UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


POLICE 
ADMINISTRATION 


By  RAYMOND  B.  FOSDICK 


PART  III 
OF  THE  CLEVELAND  FOUNDATION  SURVEY  OF 

CRIMINAL  JUSTICE   IN   CLEVELAND 

Price  $1.00 


POLICE  ADMINISTRATION 


THE  CLEVELAND  FOUNDATION 

H02  Swetland  Building,  Cleveland,  Ohio 

COMMITTEE 

J.  D.  Williamson,  Chairman 

Thomas  G.  Fitzsimons 

Malcolm  L.  McBride 

W.  H.  Prescott 

Belle  Sherwin 

Leonard  P.  Ayres,  Secretary 
James  R.  Garfield,  Counsel 


Raymond  Moley,  Director 


THE  SURVEY  OF  CRIMINAL  JUSTICE 

Roscoe  Pound        1 

Felix  Frankfurter  i^^''^^^^^^ 

Amos  Burt  Thompson,  Chairman  of  the 
Advbory  Committee 


POLICE 
ADMINISTRATION 


BY 

RAYMOND  B.  FOSDICK 

AUTHOR  OF  '■  AMERICAN  POLICE  SYSTEMS  ' 


PART  III 

OF  THE  CLEVELAND  FOUNDATION  SURVEY  OF 

CRIMINAL   JUSTICE   IN   CLEVELAND 


Copyright,  1921,  by 
The  Cleveland  Foundation 


FOREWORD 

THIS  is  the  third  of  eight  sections  of  the  report  of  the  Cleve- 
land Foundation  Survey  of  Criminal  Justice  in  Cleveland. 
The  survey  was  directed  and  the  reports  edited  by  Roscoe 
Pound  and  FeUx  Frankfurter.    Sections  which  have  been  pub- 
lished are: 

The  Criminal  Courts,  by  Reginald  Heber  Smith  and  Herbert  B. 

Ehrmann 
Prosecution,  by  Alfred  Bettman 

Other  sections  to  be  published  are : 

Penal  Treatment  and  Correctional  Institutions,  by  Burdette  G. 

Lewis 
Medical  Science  and  Criminal  Justice,  by  Dr.  Herman  M.  Adler. 
Newspapers  and  Criminal  Justice,  by  M.  K.  Wisehart 
Legal  Education  in  Cleveland,  by  Albert  M.  Kales 
Criminal  Justice  in  the  American  City,  a  Summary,  by  Roscoe 

Pound 

The  sections  are  being  published  first  in  separate  form,  each 
bound  in  paper.  About  November  10  the  report  will  be  available 
in  a  single  volume,  cloth  bound.  Orders  for  separate  sections  or 
the  bound  volume  may  be  left  with  book-stores  or  with  the  Cleve- 
land Foundation,  1202  Swetland  Building. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword  v 

List  of  Tables  viii 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Problem  1 

II.  Present  Conditions  4 

III.  The  Organization  of  the  Force  8 

Scope  of  the  Police  Survey  9 

The  Problem  of  Administration  10 

The  Machinery  of  Police  Administration  in  Cleveland  10 

Recommendations  14 

IV.  Provision  of  Personnel — Its  Selection  and  Training  22 

Previous  Occupation  22 

Age  of  Appointees  24 

Turnover  in  the  Patrol  Force  26 

Civil  Service  as  a  Source  of  Recruits  31 

Police  Training  School  32 

V.  Promotion  34 

The  System  of  Promotion  34 

Limitations  and  Defects  of  the  System  36 

Recommendations  40 

VI.  Discipline  43 

Record  of  Formal  Disciplinary  Actions  45 

Appeals  47 

Recommendations  51 

VII.  Uniform  Patrol  Service  53 

Number  of  Policemen  Needed  55 

Methods  of  Patrol  57 

Patrol  Booths  59 

Precinct  Stations  60 

Recommendations  61 

VIII.  The  Detective  Bureau  62 

Poor  Quality  of  Detectives  64 

Poor  Work  of  Detective  Bureau  67 

Inadequate  Supervision  of  Detective  Work  68 

Recommendations  69 

IX.  Special  Service  Division  73 

Other  Crime  Prevention  Units  Needed  75 

X.  The  Secretarial  Division  79 


LIST  OF  TABLES 

TABLE  PAGE 

1.  Number  of  Appointments  and  Resignations  of  Men  Appointed  in  Years  1914, 

1916,  1918,  1919,  1920  27 

2.  Combined  Record  of  Appointments,  Resignations,  and  Dismissals  27 

3.  Median  Scores  and  Range  of  Scores  of  Police  Divisions  65 

4.  Distribution  of  Intelligence  Ratings  66 

5.  Summary  of  Distribution  of  Intelligence  Ratings  66 


POLICE  ADMINISTRATION 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  PROBLEM 

A  CURSORY  examination  of  the  problem  of  crime  in  Cleveland 
produces  some  startling  facts.  For  the  year  1920  Cleveland,  with 
'  approximately  800,000  population,  had  six  times  as  many  murders 
as  London,  with  8,000,000  population.  For  every  robbery  or  assault  with 
intent  to  rob  committed  during  this  same  period  in  London  there  were 
17  such  crimes  committed  in  Cleveland.  Cleveland  had  as  many  murders 
during  the  first  three  months  of  the  present  year  as  London  had  during 
all  of  1920.  Liverpool  is  about  one  and  one-half  times  larger  than  Cleve- 
land, and  yet  in  1919  Cleveland  reported  31  robberies  for  each  one  re- 
ported in  Liverpool,  and  three  times  the  number  of  murders  and  man- 
slaughters. Practically  the  same  ratio  holds  between  Cleveland  and 
Glasgow.  There  are  more  robberies  and  assaults  to  rob  in  Cleveland 
every  year  than  in  all  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales  put  together.  In 
1919  there  were  2,327  automobiles  stolen  in  Cleveland;  in  London  there 
were  290;  in  Liverpool,  10. 

Comparisons  of  this  kind  between  Cleveland,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
European  cities,  on  the  other,  could  be  almost  indefinitely  extended. 
There  is  no  gainsaying  the  fact  that  crime  in  Cleveland  far  exceeds,  in 
point  of  volume,  the  crime  of  European  cities  of  equal  or  larger  size.  And 
yet,  compared  with  other  American  cities,  Cleveland's  record  does  not 
show  to  any  special  disadvantage.  For  the  first  quarter  of  1921  there 
were  four  more  murders  committed  in  Detroit  than  in  Cleveland,  and 
nearly  twice  as  many  automobiles  stolen  in  Detroit.  During  the  first 
three  months  of  1921  St.  Louis  had  481  robberies,  while  Cleveland  had 
272;  for  the  same  period  complaints  of  burglary  and  housebreaking  in 
St.  Louis  numbered  1,106,  as  compared  to  565  such  complaints  in  Cleve- 
land. For  this  same  period  the  number  of  murders  in  Buffalo,  a  much 
smaller  city,  equaled  those  in  Cleveland,  and  burglaries,  housebreakings, 
and  larcenies  were  almost  as  numerous.  In  1919  Chicago,  more  than 
three  times  the  size  of  Cleveland,  had  293  murders  and  manslaughters, 
2  [11 


compared  with  Cleveland's  55,  so  that  the  ratio  was  easily  two  to  one  in 
Cleveland's  favor;  the  1920  statistics  of  the  two  cities  show  an  even 
better  proportion  for  Cleveland. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  scale,  for  the  first  three  months  of  the  present 
year  Cleveland  had  more  than  twice  the  number  of  robberies  and  assaults 
to  rob  that  Detroit  had,  and  a  similar  large  proportion  of  burglaries  and 
housebreakings.  During  this  period  there  were  296  automobiles  stolen 
in  St.  Louis,  as  against  446  in  Cleveland.  Cleveland  is  approximately 
three  times  larger  than  Toledo,  and  yet  in  1920  Cleveland  had  87  mur- 
ders, while  Toledo  had  only  11. 

Another  basis  of  comparison  is  between  the  crime  statistics  of  Cleve- 
land in  1921  and  Cleveland  in  former  years.  For  the  first  six  months  of 
1921,  the  period  in  which  this  survey  was  carried  on,  the  number  of 
murders  committed  in  Cleveland  was  15.  For  the  same  period  in  1920 
the  number  of  murders  was  30.  Similarly,  during  this  same  period,  there 
was  a  decrease  of  burglaries  and  larcenies  from  573  in  1920  to  541  in  1921. 
On  the  other  hand,  robberies  and  assaults  to  rob  increased,  as  between 
the  two  periods,  from  454  to  534,  and  the  number  of  automobiles  stolen 
increased  from  1,156  to  1,238.  The  following  figures  show  the  average 
number  of  complaints  for  the  first  quarter  of  each  of  the  four  years  from 
1917  to  1920  inclusive,  classified  according  to  four  outstanding  crimes: 

Robbery  and  assault  to  rob  283 

Burglar\'  and  larceny  418 

Murder  17 

Automobiles  driven  away  361 

The  following  figures  give  the  number  of  complaints  of  the  same  crimes 
for  the  first  quarter  of  1921: 

Robbery  and  assault  to  rob  272 

Burglarj'  and  larceny  265 

Murder  6 

Automobiles  driven  away  446 

Obviously,  there  has  been  some  improvement  within  the  last  four  years. 
All  in  all,  crime  conditions  are  no  more  vicious  in  Cleveland  than  they 
are  in  other  American  cities.  In  point  of  volume  of  crime  in  relation  to 
size  of  population  Cleveland  is  neither  much  better  nor  much  worse  than 
the  other  municipalities  of  the  United  States.  It  is  when  we  compare 
Cleveland  with  cities  like  London,  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  or  almost  any 
other  European  municipality  that  ominous  contrasts  are  obtained.  In 
this  respect,  therefore,  Cleveland's  problem  is  the  problem  of  America, 

[21 


for  the  same  causes  that  are  maintaining  the  high  crime  rate  of  Chicago, 
St.  Louis,  New  York,  Detroit,  and  San  Francisco  are  operating  here. 

What  are  these  causes?  Here  we  can  only  hint  at  some  of  the  deeper 
social  and  economic  causes.  The  lack  of  homogeneity  in  our  population 
and  its  increasing  instability,  the  absence  of  settled  habits  and  traditions 
of  order,  the  breakdown  of  the  administration  of  criminal  law  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  many  avenues  by  which  offenders  can  escape 
punishment,  our  easy  habit  of  passing  laws  which  do  not  represent  com- 
munity standards  or  desires,  our  lack  of  cohesive  industrial  organization, 
our  distrust  of  experts  in  the  management  of  governmental  enterprises — 
all  these  are  undoubtedly  contributing  factors. 

But  there  is  another  factor,  still  more  potent:  police  machinery  in 
the  United  States  has  not  kept  pace  with  modern  demands.  It  has  de- 
veloped no  effective  technique  to  master  the  burden  which  modern  social 
and  industrial  conditions  impose.  Clinging  to  old  traditions,  bound  by 
old  practices  which  business  and  industry  long  ago  discarded,  employing 
a  personnel  poorly  adapted  to  its  purposes,  it  grinds  away  on  its  per- 
functory task  without  self-criticism,  without  imagination,  and  with  little 
initiative. 

From  this  general  indictment  the  Cleveland  police  department  cannot 
be  excepted. 


CHAPTER  II 
PRESENT  CONDITIONS 

THE  present  police  department  of  Cleveland  dates  from  1866.  In 
that  year  the  force,  consisting  of  a  marshal  and  44  watchmen,  was 
reorganized  on  a  semi-military  basis,  with  a  superintendent,  cap- 
tains, sergeants,  detectives,  and  patrolmen.  In  the  next  forty  years 
there  followed  many  modifications  of  the  scheme  for  administering  the 
force;  but  few  changes,  other  than  increases  in  numbers,  occurred  in  the 
internal  organization.  In  1907  the  force  totaled  614:  a  chief,  one  in- 
spector, four  captains,  27  lieutenants,  28  sergeants,  550  patrolmen,  a 
secretary,  surgeon,  and  detective  sergeant.  Of  the  550  patrolmen,  20 
were  designated  as  detectives.  At  the  beginning  of  1921  the  authorized 
force  of  regular  police  totaled  1,381,'  including — 

1  chief 

1  secretary 

1  inspector 

4  deputy  inspectors 

1  superintendent  of  criminal  investigation 

1  surgeon 

1  veterinary  surgeon 

1  superintendent  of  civil  investigation 

1  superintendent  of  tailor  shop 
17  captains 
53  lieutenants 
99  sergeants 
75  detectives 
1,125  patrolmen 

Since  1866  Cleveland  has  gi'own  from  a  small  town  to  the  fifth  city  in 
the  United  States.  It  has  grown  not  only  in  size,  but  in  the  heterogeneity 
of  its  population  and  in  the  complexity  of  its  social  and  business  life. 
From  a  town  in  which  many  people  knew  each  other  intimately  and  thus 

•  Ordinance  No.  52236  (Ordinances  of  1920).  The  actual  number  of  men  em- 
ployed has  been  below  the  authorized  number. 

14] 


furnished  a  substantial  degree  of  self-protection  and  aid  to  the  police, 
Cleveland  has  become,  like  all  other  communities  of  its  size  in  modern 
times,  a  city  of  strangers. 

In  contrast  with  this  complex  growth  of  the  city  the  police  depart- 
ment of  1921  is  little  more  than  a  physical  enlargement  of  the  depart- 
ment of  1866.  Other  branches  of  the  municipal  government  have  made 
marked  progress  along  lines  of  scientific  development.  The  school  sys- 
tem, public  utilities,  fire  fighting,  business  offices — all  these  have  taken  on 
a  new  character  compared  with  their  prototypes  of  a  generation  ago. 
The  police  department  has  shown  no  such  vitality — no  such  capacity  to 
make  itself  over  on  a  new  and  improved  pattern,  no  willingness  to  reshape 
its  methods  to  modern  demands.  Instead,  it  has  hewn  to  the  line  of 
tradition,  ventured  almost  nothing  in  experiment,  and  copied  very  little 
from  the  experience  of  other  private  and  public  organizations.  Today 
the  patrol  force  is  distributed  and  managed  exactly  as  it  was  twenty  or 
thirty  years  ago.  There  is  nothing  new  in  the  detective  service  save 
faces  and  a  few  meager  records.  Traffic  regulation  has  been  developed, 
but  this  modern  necessity  has  been  met  only  by  draining  the  depart- 
ment's resources  for  coping  with  crime.  No  new  practices  have  been 
employed  for  ferreting  out  and  removing  conditions  that  produce  crime. 
Practically  the  same  methods  are  employed  for  combating  crime  that 
were  used  when  Cleveland  was  just  a  big  neighborhood  in  which  the 
police  knew  everybody. 

Let  us  look  a  little  further.  The  department  has  never  had  and  does 
not  have  today  the  trained  and  intelligent  leadership  which  European 
police  forces  have  long  enjoyed.  Cleveland's  directors  of  public  safety 
and  her  chiefs  of  police  come  and  go,  apparently  with  scant  appreciation 
by  the  public  of  the  fact  that  transient  administration  is  fatal  to  success 
in  any  complex  technical  enterprise.  Moreover,  the  line  of  authority 
between  the  director  of  public  safety  and  the  chief  of  police  is  so  vaguely 
drawn  that  effective  administration  would  be  impossible  even  under  the 
best  of  conditions.  Lacking  in  leadership,  the  department  lacks,  too,  in 
the  quality  of  its  working  personnel.  Machinists,  motormen,  truckmen, 
and  other  manual  workers — these  are  the  sources  from  which  Cleveland 
takes  the  men  upon  whom  she  imposes  tasks  requiring  a  high  degree  of 
intelligence  and  technical  skill,  besides  a  keen  appreciation  of  social 
values. 

Similarly,  we  find  adherence  to  a  rigid  organization  applying  to  the 
entire  force,  regardless  of  the  great  difference  in  tj^jes  of  work  attempted 
by  the  various  divisions  of  the  service.  We  find  the  department  acting  as 
the  eyes  and  ears  of  other  city  departments  in  reporting  on  the  physical 

15] 


conditions  of  the  city,  promoting  the  safety  of  citizens  in  public  places, 
arresting  criminals,  and  preventing  the  commission  of  crimes,  but  using 
the  same  kind  of  man  for  all  these  tasks  and  clearing  them  through  the 
same  inelastic  organization. 

The  department  is  trj-dng  heroically  today  to  "catch  up"  in  the  ap- 
prehension of  criminals  and  the  prevention  of  crime.  Its  energies,  how- 
ever, are  chiefly  consumed  in  repairing  damage  that  is  not  anticipated. 
Almost  nothing  is  being  done  to  find  out  the  causes  of  crime,  to  learn  the 
sources  from  which  criminals  are  sprung,  or  to  forestall  their  operations. 
The  department  takes  no  leading  part  in  the  study  of  criminals  and  their 
characteristic^;  it  does  not  even  avail  itself  of  facilities  for  study  and 
experiment  that  have  been  developed  by  schools,  climes,  and  other  pri- 
vate and  public  organizations. 

This  lack  of  intelligence  and  imagination  in  Cleveland's  poUce  work  is 
shown  in  the  ragged  character  of  the  internal  arrangements  of  the  depart- 
ment. No  private  business  whose  affairs  were  carried  on  in  such  hit-or- 
miss  fashion  could  escape  bankruptcy.  The  record  books  of  the  depart- 
ment are  poorly  kept,  sometimes  showing  erasures,  changes,  and  addi- 
tions. Nearly  all  reports  made  by  patrohnen  and  detectives  are  wTitten 
in  pencil.  There  are  no  current  consolidated  reports  showing  summaries 
of  operations,  ^^^th  comparative  data  for  other  periods  which  might  be 
used  for  purposes  of  administrative  control.  Instead,  there  is  a  great 
mass  of  detailed  matter  passing  over  and  lodging  upon  the  chief's  desk. 
On  the  other  hand,  not  enough  detailed  material  appears  on  the  desks  of 
commanding  officers  of  the  detective  bureau,  vice  bureau,  and  precincts. 
Policemen  are  doing  the  work  of  clerks,  and  some,  who  might  better  have 
been  employed  as  clerks,  are  doing  the  work  of  policemen.  Most  of  the 
department's  supervnsory  work  is  done  on  a  memory  basis,  as  in  1866, 
without  even  any  regular  order  for  making  and  receiving  the  verbal  sum- 
maries of  current  business.  Every  one,  from  the  chief  down,  appears  to 
be  engaged  with  the  interesting  things  of  the  moment.  Study  and  analy- 
sis of  persisting  or  recurring  problems  and  of  results  in  the  aggregate  are 
hardly  known. 

Inadequate  equipment  adds  to  this  appearance  of  raggedness.  No 
private  business  which  has  to  show  results  could  work  with  the  depart- 
ment's equipment.  The  headquarters  building  is  wholly  inadequate. 
Workers  in  every  division  are  cramped  for  space,  with  resulting  confusion 
and  chaos.  If  the  record  bureau  facilities  are  contrasted  with  those  of  a 
private  enterprise  havmg  an  equal  volume  of  business,  the  disadvantages 
under  which  the  police  are  working  will  be  readily  seen.  There  are  no 
typewriters  in  the  precincts  save  those  privately  owned.     Supervising 

[6] 


inspectors  do  not  have  automobiles  in  which  to  cover  the  city.  Members 
of  the  automobile  recovery  squad  are  frequently  without  a  car,  and  must 
go  on  foot  to  search  for  stolen  automobiles.  The  signal  system  is  wholly 
inadequate  for  the  ordinary  needs  of  communicating  with  men  doing 
field  duty.    No  motor  equipment  is  available  for  regular  patrol  duty. 

A  general  picture  of  the  police  service  in  Cleveland  gives  the  impres- 
sion of  a  group  of  men,  singularly  free  from  scandal  and  vicious  cor- 
ruption, but  working  in  a  rut,  without  intelligence  or  constructive  policy, 
on  an  unimaginative,  perfunctory  routine.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  same 
indictment  could  be  drawn  against  most  of  the  police  forces  of  America. 
The  Cleveland  department  is  no  worse  than  many  others;  in  some  re- 
spects it  is  better.  Official  lethargy  lies  behind  much  that  is  distressing 
in  this  picture.  There  is  another  kind  of  lethargy,  however,  which  can- 
not escape  its  share  of  the  responsibility.  It  is  the  lethargy  of  pubhc 
opinion,  the  community's  easy  habit  of  assuming  that  governmental  ma- 
chinery will  somehow  or  other  run  itself,  even  in  the  face  of  meager  equip- 
ment and  inadequate  funds. 


[7] 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FORCE 

THE  police  service  of  Cleveland  is  organized  as  a  division  of  the 
department  of  public  safety.  The  department  of  which  the  police 
division  forms  a  part  is  administered  by  a  director  appointed  by 
the  mayor  and  serving  at  his  pleasure.  The  charter  provides  that  "  under 
the  direction  of  the  mayor  the  director  of  public  safety  shall  be  the  execu- 
tive head  of  the  divisions  of  police  and  fire."  The  division  of  poUce  is 
headed  by  a  chief  of  police,  who  is  appointed  by  the  mayor,  subject  to 
civil  serv'ice  rules  and  regulations.  The  right  to  suspend  the  chief  is 
lodged  exclusively  with  the  mayor.  In  case  of  such  suspension,  the 
charter  provides  that  the  mayor  "shall  forthwith  certify  the  fact,  to- 
gether with  the  cause  of  such  suspension,  to  the  civil  service  commission, 
who  within  five  days  from  the  date  of  the  receipt  of  such  notice  shall 
proceed  to  hear  such  charges  and  render  judgment  thereon,  which  judg- 
ment shall  be  final."^ 

The  rank  and  file  of  the  police  service  are  appointed  by  the  director  of 
public  safety.  The  chief  of  police  has  the  exclusive  right  to  suspend  any 
officers  or  employees  in  the  poUce  division.  In  case  of  suspension  the 
charter  provides  that  a  trial  shall  be  held  by  the  director,  who  is  em- 
powered to  render  judgment,  "which  judgment,  if  sustained,  may  be 
suspension,  reduction  in  rank,  or  dismissal,  and  such  judgment  in  the 
matter  shall  be  final,  except  as  otherwise  hereinafter  provided."  The 
charter  further  provides  that  a  member  of  the  division  of  police  may 
appeal  to  the  civil  service  commission  from  the  decision  of  the  director  of 
pubhc  safety  within  ten  days  after  the  date  of  suspension  from  duty,  re- 
duction in  rank,  or  dismissal.  In  such  appealed  cases  the  civil  service 
commission  has  the  pov/er  to  "affirm,  disaffirm,  or  modify  the  judgment 
of  the  director  of  public  safety,  and  its  judgment  in  the  matter  shall  be 
final." 

All  members  of  the  professional  force  enter  the  department  as  patrol- 
men, after  examinations  conducted  by  the  civil  service  commission. 
Promotions  to  the  higher  ranks,  with  the  exception  of  the  rank  of  chief  of 

»  Cleveland  City  Charter,  Sec.  107. 


police,  are  made  as  a  result  of  competitive  civil  service  examinations.  In 
addition  to  these  ranks  of  the  professional  police  force  there  is  a  super- 
intendent of  criminal  investigation  (criminal  identification),  a  surgeon, 
superintendent  of  civil  investigation,  veterinary  surgeon,  and  superin- 
tendent of  the  tailor  shop.  Civilians  are  employed  as  matrons,  chauffeurs, 
tailors,  caretakers,  janitresses,  mechanics,  and  telephone  operators. 

The  major  part  of  the  regular  police  personnel  is  distributed  by  types 
of  work  in  four  main  divisions  as  follows:  the  unifonned  patrol  force,  the 
division  of  traffic  regulation,  the  detective  division,  and  the  vice  squad. 
In  addition  to  these  main  divisions  are  several  small  auxiliary  units,  such 
as  the  criminal  identification  bureau,  information  bureau,  and  record 
bureau,  to  which  patrolmen  and  officers  are  assigned  in  the  numbers  re- 
quired. Ranks  and  grades  are  not  affected  by  assignment  and  transfer 
from  one  bureau  or  division  to  another,  although  some  increase  in  salary 
is  granted  to  sergeants  who  are  detailed  to  the  vice  squad  and  to  patrol- 
men assigned  to  serve  regularly  in  the  detective  division. 

For  purposes  of  distributing  the  working  force  of  the  department  geo- 
grapliically  the  city  has  been  divided  into  15  precincts,  each  having  a 
precinct  station  house.  The  general  administration  of  police  affairs  is 
carried  on  at  police  headquarters,  which  also  includes  the  first  precinct 
station,  detective  headquarters,  vice  squad,  and  all  the  special  units. 

Scope  of  the  Police  Survey 

The  subjects  of  study  in  this  survey  have  been  the  relations  between 
the  civil  service  board,  the  public  safety  department,  and  the  various 
police  divisions  and  bureaus,  the  character  of  the  supervision  of  police 
work  in  its  many  phases,  the  methods  of  procedure,  the  records  and  re- 
ports maintained  for  showing  work  accomplished,  and  the  volume  of 
crime  dealt  with. 

In  the  main,  appraisals  of  efficiency  relate  to  methods  of  procedure 
and  departmental  organization  viewed  as  an  impersonal  instrument  of 
government.  The  relation  of  officials  to  one  another  and  to  their  work 
in  general  has  been  looked  at  in  the  light  of  the  office  rather  than  of  the 
individual.  While  this  view  of  police  administration  has  necessarily 
represented  conditions  prevailing  during  the  period  covered  by  the  inves- 
tigation, and  is,  therefore,  an  analysis  of  the  practices  and  accomplish- 
ments of  individuals  who  happened  to  be  in  office  at  that  time,  we  have 
kept  in  mind  throughout  that  it  is  methods  rather  than  persons  which 
form  the  permanent  part  of  the  organization,  and  it  is  the  former,  there- 
fore, with  which  the  larger  purposes  of  the  survey  are  concerned.  Thus 
it  has  been  the  office  of  the  chief  of  police,  with  its  powers,  duties,  prac- 

19] 


tices,  and  accomplishments,  rather  than  Chief  Frank  W.  Smith,  that  has 
been  the  subject  of  investigation.  The  present  personnel  will,  in  due 
course,  be  separated  entirely  from  police  administration,  and  any  ap- 
praisal of  their  efficiency  as  individuals  will  then  be  of  no  value.  But  the 
practices  employed  and  policies  laid  down  by  the  present  personnel  must 
necessarily  form  the  basis  for  the  development  of  the  future. 

The  Problem  of  Administration 

The  task  of  the  administration  of  police  business  in  Cleveland  con- 
sists in  directing  the  daily  activities  of  some  1,200  men.  Keeping  each 
of  these  men  keyed  up  to  his  best  is  a  problem  in  the  management  of 
human  beings.  Their  work  in  turn  consists  in  regulating  human  relations 
and  thus  promoting  safety  and  good  order  in  the  community. 

To  achieve  these  ends  in  a  city  of  the  size  of  Cleveland  a  large  organ- 
ization with  imposing  equipment  and  record  systems  must  be  provided. 
It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  the  ultimate  end  of  this  complex  super- 
structure of  organization  is  to  be  found  in  the  acts  of  individual  poUce- 
men,  operating  for  the  most  part  alone  and  initially  unaided.  The  per- 
sonnel of  the  department  rarely  moves  in  large  units;  the  organization 
acts  through  individual  members  in  performing  the  major  part  of  the 
daily  routine.  The  real  poUce  work  is  not  done  at  headquarters  or  in 
stations,  but  on  the  beat. 

Matters  of  organization,  records,  reports,  and  methods  of  procedure 
are  merely  convenient  instruments  to  see  that  policemen  are  made  avail- 
able for  duty  and  to  provide  some  basis  for  estimating  the  effectiveness 
of  these  field  forces.  But  police  work  itself,  in  its  final  analysis,  is 'wholly 
personal.  The  sum  of  the  generally  isolated  observations,  investigations, 
and  acts  of  individual  policemen  constitutes  the  primary  pohce  work  of 
the  department.  The  heart  of  the  business  of  police  administration,  there- 
fore, consists  in  training,  stimulating,  and  directing  men  in  the  exercise  of 
good  judgment  and  initiative  while  on  post  or  assignment  in  the  field. 

The  work  of  a  police  department  is,  therefore,  not  readily  reduced  to 
well-defined  standards  of  accomplishment.  It  involves  such  intangible 
and  modifiable  factors  as  good  judgment,  sympathy,  patience,  courage, 
and  intelligence.  Added  to  these  there  must  be  pride  of  profession,  en- 
thusiasm, and,  above  all,  a  spirit  and  willingness  to  take  great  pains  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  work. 

The  Machinery  of  Police  Administration  in  Cleveland 
Let  us  see  how  well  the  administrative  machinery  of  the  Cleveland 
pohce  department  fulfils  its  task  of  administering  these  personal  relations. 

[10] 


Charter  provisions  covering  the  question  of  responsibihty  for  the  admin- 
istration of  pohce  business  are  singularly  confusing  in  terminology.  The 
language  is  clear  enough,  however,  to  show  that  a  deliberate  attempt  has 
been  made  to  distribute  specific  powers  between  the  director  of  public 
safety  and  the  chief  of  police.  Authority  is  apparently  given  to  the  chief 
by  one  provision  of  the  charter,  only  to  be  taken  away  by  another.  Re- 
garding general  powers  and  duties  in  the  department  of  public  safety  the 
charter  reads :  "  Under  the  direction  of  the  mayor  the  director  of  public  safety 
shall  be  the  executive  head  of  the  divisions  of  police  and  fire.  He  shall  also 
be  the  chief  administrative  authority  in  all  matters  affecting  the  inspection 
and  regidation  of  the  erection,  maintenance,  repair,  and  occupancy  of  build- 
ings J^^  Thus,  with  regard  to  the  division  of  buildings,  which  is  coordinate 
with  the  divisions  of  fire  and  police  in  the  department  of  public  safety, 
the  charter  specifies  that  the  director  shall  be  the  administrative  author- 
ity, while  his  responsibility  with  regard  to  the  police  and  fire  divisions 
would  seem  to  be  of  a  different  kind.  The  distinction  here  made  ap- 
parently implies  that  in  the  police  and  fire  divisions,  as  distinguished 
from  the  division  of  buildings,  the  chiefs  of  the  respective  divisions  are 
the  administrative  heads,  with  the  director  as  a  sort  of  over-lord.  The 
charter  does  not  specifically  state  that  the  chief  of  police  is  to  be  con- 
sidered the  administrative  authority  of  the  division  of  police,  but  the 
prescriptions  relating  to  his  appointment  and  removal  by  the  mayor  and 
not  by  the  director,  and  the  power-s  and  duties  ascribed  to  him,  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  such  was  the  intention. 

Another  section  of  the  charter  reads:  ^'The  chief  of  the  division  of 
police  shall  have  exclusive  control  of  the  stationing  and  transfer  of  all  patrol- 
men, and  other  officers  and  employees  constituting  the  police  force,  under  such 
rules  and  regulations  as  the  director  of  public  safety  may  prescribe.  The 
director  of  public  safety  shall  have  the  exclusive  management  and  control  of 
such  other  officers  and  employees  as  shall  be  employed  in  the  administration 
of  the  affairs  of  the  division.""^  Here  again  we  are  confronted  by  an  ap- 
parent conflict.  Where  does  the  authority  of  the  chief  leave  off  and  that 
of  the  director  of  public  safety  begin?  An  inquiry  along  historical  lines 
reveals  that  the  probable  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  charter  was  to 
charge  the  chief  with  responsibility  for  carrying  on  police  enterprise 
proper,  while  the  director  was  to  have  full  responsibility  in  purely  busi- 
ness matters,  such  as  the  purchase  of  supplies  and  equipment,  repair 
and  upkeep  of  property.  If  this  be  true,  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  the 
intention  was  not  well  fortified  by  later  provisions  in  the  charter,  wherein 

1  City  Charter,  Sec.  102.  2  city  Charter,  Sec.  103. 

[11] 


the  chief — or  administrative  head  of  the  "police  force" — is  shorn  of  all 
final  authority  in  important  matters  governing  the  selection,  promotion, 
and  discipline  of  the  police  force. 

Again,  "  The  chiefs  of  the  divisions  of  police  and  fire  shall  have  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  suspend  any  of  the  officers  or  employees  in  their  respective 
divisiomvho  may  he  under  their  management  and  control.  *  *  *  "  This 
is  no  more  than  the  ordinary  authority  attaching  to  the  office  of  an  ad- 
ministrative head  of  a  department.  In  the  next  sentence,  however,  this 
language  occurs :  "  //  any  officer  or  employee  he  suspended,  as  herein  provided, 
the  chief  of  the  division  concerned  shall  forthwith  in  writing  certify  the  fact, 
together  with  the  cause  for  the  suspension,  to  the  director  ofpuhlic  safety  who, 
ivithin  five  days  from  the  receipt  thereof,  shall  proceed  to  inquire  into  the 
cause  of  such  suspensioti  and  render  judgment  thereon,  which  judgment,  if 
the  charge  be  sustained,  may  he  suspension,  reduction  in  rank,  or  disjnissal, 
and  such  judgment  in  the  matter  shall  he  final,  except  as  hereinafter  pro- 
vided.'" 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  chief  is  given  wide  powers, — wider  than  in 
most  cities  where  there  is  a  non-professional  administrative  head,  such  as 
the  director  of  public  safety,  between  the  mayor  and  the  chief, — that  he 
is  charged  with  the  initiation  of  authority  in  administration,  that  is,  has 
"exclusive"  control  under  ordinary  circumstances,  while  the  director's 
connection  with  the  routine  affairs  of  the  police  division  is  restricted  to 
business  matters  or,  as  the  charter  vaguely  calls  it,  "administration  of 
the  affairs  of  the  division."  Yet,  when  the  real  test  of  "exclusive"  con- 
trol appears,  it  is  found  that  the  director  and  not  the  chief  has  all  the 
power.  The  director  makes  all  of  the  reall}'  important  decisions,  as,  for 
example,  in  the  matter  of  preparing  the  budget  for  police  service,  making 
rules  and  regulations,  conducting  disciplinary  trials,  and  making  the 
selections  for  appointment  and  promotions  from  the  civil  service  lists. 
The  director,  however,  is  not  required,  nor  does  he  have  an  opportunity, 
to  estabUsh  immediate  and  constant  contact  with  the  actual  administra- 
tive processes  of  police  work. 

There  is  another  odd  arrangement  in  connection  with  the  distribution 
of  powers  and  the  establishment  of  a  line  of  responsibility  between  the 
two  heads  of  the  police  service.  The  director,  while  depending  on  the 
chief  to  exercise  "exclusive"  control  up  to  the  point  where  the  director 
himself  makes  the  really  important  decisions,  does  not  have  direct  con- 
trol over  the  chief,  but  merely  over  the  facilities  with  which  the  chief  has 
to  work.    The  chief  is  appointed  by  the  mayor  and  not  by  the  director. 

'  City  Charter,  Sec.  106. 
[12  1 


Likewise  the  mayor  alone  has  ^^the  exclusive  right  to  suspend  the  chief  of 
the  division  of  police  or  fire  for  incompetence  or  any  other  just  and  reasonable 
cause."  As  a  result,  the  chief  is  answerable  to  the  director  for  his  man- 
agement of  police  work,  but  responsible  to  the  mayor  and  not  the  director 
as  far  as  his  "incompetence"  is  concerned.  Only  confused  notions  re- 
specting official  responsibility  can  result  from  such  a  situation. 

In  the  matter  of  disciplinary  action,  it  should  be  pointed  out  here 
that  there  is  another  step  in  the  scale  of  responsibility  beyond  the  mayor 
and  director.  The  municipal  civil  service  commission  alone  has  the 
power  to  pass  on  charges  preferred  against  the  chief  of  police,  and  it 
renders  final  judgment  as  well  in  all  cases  involving  lower  ranks  which 
may  be  appealed  to  the  commission  from  the  judgment  of  the  director.^ 

Under  such  a  scheme  of  confused  responsibility  for  police  business  as 
has  been  outlined  above,  to  whom  do  the  people  at  Cleveland  actually 
look  for  results  in  policing  the  city?  Who  is  held  to  account  when  a  wave 
of  robberies,  burglaries,  or  automobile  thefts  occurs?  Is  it  the  director 
of  public  safety  or  the  chief  of  police?  Which  of  the  two  officials  bears 
the  final  responsibility?  The  answer  under  the  present  charter  is,  neither. 
Whenever  the  question  of  efficiency  is  called  up,  the  director  can  point 
to  the  chief  and  say:  "There  is  the  man  who  is  running  the  department. 
I  neither  appoint  him  nor  remove  him;  he  is  subject  to  civil  service  pro- 
visions. If  he  doesn't  do  the  job  satisfactorily,  I  am  not  to  blame."  A 
chief  under  the  same  conditions  can  reply  by  saying:  "If  I  had  the  last 
word  in  matters  of  discipline,  so  as  to  weed  out  the  unfit  regardless  of 
their  political  friends  and  influences,  and  keep  all  others  on  their  toes; 
if  I  could  make  the  rules  and  regulations  governing  the  department  and 
could  select  my  men  in  accordance  with  my  own  standards  of  judgment, 
I  could  accomplish  better  results."  The  whole  scheme  is  admirably  suited 
to  the  favorite  game  of  "passing  the  buck" — an  especially  useful  game 
where  public  criticism  is  involved. 

Moreover,  the  contention  of  each  official,  as  suggested,  would  be  abso- 
lutely correct  so  far  as  the  charter  goes.  The  director  of  public  safety 
has  wide  general  powers,  but  no  specific  contacts  with  the  machinery  he  is 
controlling.  The  chief  of  police,  on  the  other  hand,  is  checked  at  a  score 
of  points  where  an  administrator  should  have  free  initiative  and  com- 
plete authority.  The  chief's  position  at  present  is  like  that  of  a  child 
driving  a  horse,  while  an  adult  sits  beside  him  ready  to  grip  the  reins  in 
front  of  his  hands,  whenever  an  important  decision  in  the  driving  arises. 

Naturally,  under  the  present  arrangement,  the  whole  complexion  of  ad- 

1  This  subject  will  be  reviewed  in  some  detail  in  a  later  section  of  this  report. 

[13] 


ministration  changes  with  shifts  in  the  offices  of  director  and  chief,  and 
since  neither  officer  is  dependent  on  the  other  for  appointment  or  con- 
tinuance in  office,  such  changes  will  be  concurrent  only  by  accident. 
Experience  in  the  past  has  shown  that  with  an  aggressive  type  of  man 
serving  as  chief  the  director  will  become  a  sort  of  fifth  wheel  whose  exer- 
cise of  his  charter  authority  is  likely  at  best  to  be  a  source  of  obstruction. 
With  a  less  aggressive  chief  it  is  probable  that  the  director  will  assume 
more  influence  in  the  disposition  of  members  of  the  force  than  is  in- 
tended in  the  charter,  and  more  than  he  is  fitted  to  assume  by  reason  of 
the  multiplicity  of  his  duties  and  his  remoteness  from  actual  police  opera- 
tions. Unless  the  chief  be  especially  aggressive,  almost  to  the  point  of 
standing  against  the  director,  the  suggestions  of  the  latter,  because  of  his 
superior  position,  will  be  tantamount  to  orders.  The  practice  of  a 
former  director  of  suggesting  the  names  of  men  whom  he  desired  to  have 
detailed  to  the  detective  bureau,  and  the  famous  Order  73,^  are  cases  in 
point.  With  an  aggressive  chief  of  police,  as  at  present,  there  is  every 
opportunity  of  confusing  the  clear  line  of  responsibility  in  a  way  which 
reacts  against  the  chief  as  a  penalty  instead  of  reward  for  his  attempted 
initiative. 

Recommendations 

1.  The  best  escape  from  the  difficulties  inherent  in  the  present  scheme 
involves  a  complete  overhauling  of  the  whole  administrative  machinery. 
In  the  first  place,  there  should  be  a  direct  line  of  responsibility,  running 
from  a  single  head  down  through  the  whole  organization.  There  should 
be  no  such  short  circuits  as  now  exist  between  the  chief  and  mayor  around 
the  director,  who  is  the  chief's  superior.  Final  authority,  commensurate 
with  responsibility,  should  be  lodged  exclusively  with  the  single  directing 
head.  This  single  leader  should  be  in  immediate  charge  of  directing  the 
operations  of  the  force. 

2.  To  accomplish  these  ends  it  is  recommended  that  the  police  service 
be  disassociated  from  the  department  of  public  safety  and  established  as 
an  independent  department,  coordinate  with  the  other  combined  divi- 
sions of  the  department  of  public  safety,  the  finance  department,  or  the 
department  of  public  utilities. 

From  the  police  point  of  view,  there  is  no  good  reason  why  the  police 
service  should  be  organically  connected  with  the  fire  and  buildings  divi- 
sion. On  the  contrary,  there  are  positive  reasons  why  it  should  stand 
alone.     Although  both  the  police  and  fire  divisions  are  established  to 

'  This  order  provided  that  the  poHce  were  not  to  raid  gambUng  houses  or  houses 
of  ill  fame  without  instructions  from  the  director  of  public  safety. 

[14] 


secure  public  safety,  their  fields  of  work  differ  widely.  The  fact  that 
the  personnel  of  the  two  divisions  is  organized  on  a  semi-military  basis 
is  not  sufficient  justification  for  their  common  administration.  The 
problems  of  fire  extinguishment  are  physically  definable  and  the  work 
of  fire  prevention  is  highly  specialized  and  easily  reduced  to  mechanical 
standards;  the  uniformed  force  of  the  fire  division  deals  with  material 
elements.  The  police  force  deals  largely  with  human  relations;  its 
problems  are  to  a  certain  extent  intangible.  Firemen  work  in  groups 
under  the  immediate  direction  of  their  superior  officers;  they  respond  to 
a  fire  in  their  properly  assigned  places  and  employ  chemicals  and  other 
equipment  as  they  are  ordered  by  their  officers  in  charge.  The  poUce- 
man's  work  is  done  largely  on  his  own  initiative,  prompted  by  his  own 
judgment. 

Policies  affecting  fire  administration  relate  almost  entirely  to  the 
financial  aspects  of  providing  equipment  and  men  that  are  necessaiy  in 
the  light  of  definitely  known  insurance  rates  and  fire  hazards.  PoUcies 
of  poHce  administration  involve  social  and  moral  needs  which  are  far 
removed  from  such  factors  as  the  storage  of  inflammables,  hose  and  water 
pressure,  and  building  regulations.  There  is  no  divided  opinion  about 
the  desirability  of  putting  out  fires;  there  is  considerable  room  for  divi- 
sion of  opinion  as  to  how  much  money  the  city  should  pay  for  the  in- 
tangible returns  of  crime  prevention  to  be  achieved  through  an  enlarged 
and  better  equipped  police  force,  or  even  as  to  ho  w  far  the  police  may  go 
in  curbing  individual  liberties  in  their  efforts  to  prevent  crime. 

Thus,  although  these  two  forces  are  similarly  organized,  the  objectives 
of  their  work  are  found  to  be  wholly  different  and  their  methods  of  pro- 
cedure widely  dissimilar,  while  the  values  of  their  work  are  appraised  on 
entirely  different  bases. 

It  may  be  contended  that  a  combination  of  the  police  and  fire  divi- 
sions is  necessary  in  order  to  assure  active  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the 
police  in  looking  for  fires  at  night,  assisting  with  rescue  work,  establish- 
ing fire  Unes,  and  enforcing  the  ordinances  and  regulations  of  the  code  of 
fire  prevention  and  protection.  These  things  the  police  must  do,  but 
a  common  administration  of  police  and  fire  is  not  necessary  to  effect  such 
cooperation.  The  duties  of  the  police  would  remain  the  same  if  the  two 
divisions  were  not  connected  by  an  overhead  scheme  of  management. 
It  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  police  would  neglect  the  per- 
formance of  such  specific  duties  merely  because  their  directing  head  is 
not  also  the  directing  head  of  the  fire  force.  One  might  as  well  expect 
them  to  neglect  making  arrests  because  the  head  of  the  police  service 
is  not  also  in  charge  of  courts  and  prosecutions,  or  to  fail  to  report  broken 

[15] 


manholes  or  leaking  hydrants  because  their  division  is  not  organically 
connected  with  the  departments  of  public  utilities  and  public  service. 

A  saving  in  the  expenses  of  administration  may  result  from  com- 
bining police,  fire,  and  buildings,  and  the  practice  may  be  defended  on 
the  ground  of  economy  in  small  cities  where  these  divisions  are  not  large. 
In  Cleveland,  however,  the  savings  in  the  overhead  cost  of  administra- 
tion are  more  than  overbalanced  by  the  loss  in  efficiency.  Moreover, 
it  is  hardly  possible  to  find  a  man  with  qualifications  of  expertnessin 
the  supervision  of  the  technical  matters  of  fire  fighting  and  building  reg- 
ulation who  qualifies  also  in  understanding  the  human  problems  incident 
to  policing. 

It  may  be  sufficient  to  point  out  that  Cleveland  is  one  of  the  few  large 
cities  in  the  United  States  which  still  combine  the  administration  of  the 
police  department  with  that  of  other  branches  of  the  municipal  system. 
In  most  other  cities  the  police  force  was  long  ago  estabhshed  as  a  separate 
entity  under  independent  management.  The  same  is  true  of  all  Euro- 
pean cities.  There  the  police  function  is  regarded  as  so  important  that 
no  attempt  is  made  to  confuse  its  administration  by  bringing  other 
public  activities  under  its  leadership.  The  time  has  come  for  Cleve- 
land to  recognize  the  same  principle  and  to  give  to  the  police  department 
the  administrative  position  which  the  importance  of  its  work  demands. 

3.  The  department  of  police  should  be  in  charge  of  a  single  civilian 
administrative  head,  to  be  known  as  the  director  of  police.  The  director 
should  be  appointed  by  the  mayor  with  full  responsibility  for  adminis- 
tering the  police  service,  and  should  have  the  exclusive  right  to  name  his 
own  immediate  assistants,  including  the  chief  ranking  office  of  ihe  uni- 
formed force  to  correspond  to  the  present  chief  of  police.  Such  ap- 
pointments should  be  terminated  at  the  will  of  the  director.  It  should 
be  the  director's  duty  to  la}-^  down  a  policy  and  program  for  police  work, 
and  to  see  that  such  policy  is  carried  into  effect  by  his  subordinates. 
Under  this  arrangement  the  officer  who  develops  the  policies  of  police 
service  will  be  subject  to  public  reckoning,  since  his  appointment  and 
continuance  in  office  depend  on  the  mayor,  who  is  subject  to  election. 
Undivided  responsibility  and  authority  would  be  reposed  in  a  single 
officer  at  the  head,  and  the  line  of  responsibility  and  authority  should 
continue  downward  direct  and  luibroken. 

Such  a  director  should  be  chosen  from  outside  the  professional  ranks 
of  the  department,  just  as  the  director  of  public  safety  has  always  been 
chosen.  The  management  of  police  business  demands  as  able  an  ad- 
ministrator as  can  be  obtained.  Indeed,  in  a  city  like  Cleveland,  and  in 
many  cities  of  lesser  size,  the  task  of  police  administration  is  so  great 

[16] 


that  the  best  man  obtainable  is  none  too  good,  and  in  an  endeavor  to 
find  him,  no  search  can  be  too  thorough.  That  such  a  leader  can  be 
found  in  the  ranks  of  a  police  force  is  in  the  highest  degree  improbable. 
The  officer  who  has  walked  his  "beat"  as  a  patrolman,  investigated 
crime  as  a  detective,  and  managed  the  technical  routine  of  station  house 
activity  as  lieutenant  or  captain,  is  not  fitted  by  this  experience  to  ad- 
minister the  complex  affairs  of  a  large  police  department.  The  chances 
are  rather  that  he  is  unfitted  for  the  task.  Lacking  in  administrative 
experience,  with  scant  appreciation  of  the  larger  possibilities  of  his 
position,  often  indeed  without  imagination  or  resourcefulness,  he  has 
little  chance  of  success,  and  it  would  be  unwise  and  cruel  to  saddle  him 
with  the  responsibility.  If  police  management  were  merely  a  matter  of 
assignments,  promotions,  and  discipline;  if  it  had  to  do  only  with  the 
ordering  of  a  well-defined  routine,  any  capable  man  who  himself  had 
been  through  the  mill  might  be  well  adapted  to  handle  it. 

But  the  task,  particularly  in  large  cities,  is  so  much  broader  than 
routine,  and  involves  activities  of  such  vital  consequence,  that  only  a 
high  order  of  creative  intelligence  can  cope  with  it.  The  director  must 
deal  with  community  problems  in  the  large.  He  must  be  familiar  with 
the  underlying  social  forces  which  are  responsible  for  the  need  of  police 
service.  Constantly  before  him  must  be  the  conception  of  the  depart- 
ment as  an  agency  for  the  prevention  of  crime,  and  the  consequent  rela- 
tion of  his  work  to  all  activities,  social,  economic,  and  educational, 
operating  to  that  end.  He  must  be  able  to  interpret  pubhc  opinion,  to 
be  a  community  leader,  and,  above  all,  he  must  be  qualified  to  inspire  a 
great  force  of  policemen.  In  addition  he  must  have  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  principles  of  administration. 

These  qualifications  are  not  readily  found  in  the  uniformed  force, 
nor,  indeed,  are  they  easily  found  in  any  walk  of  life.  For  that  reason 
the  search  for  the  right  man  should  be  broadcast,  and  no  artificial  bar- 
riers of  politics  or  residence  should  be  interposed.  If  the  best  man 
cannot  be  found  in  Cleveland,  other  sources  should  be  examined.  A 
residential  qualification  in  such  cases  is  as  irrelevant  as  it  would  be  if 
applied  to  the  managing  director  of  a  railroad  or  to  the  head  of  a  medical 
school  or  an  experimental  laboratory.  In  European  cities  there  has 
been  no  thought  of  applying  such  a  test  for  the  reason  that  no  one  would 
care  to  limit  so  narrowly  the  field  of  choice.  With  the  talent  of  Great 
Britain  to  draw  from,  for  example,  why  should  Liverpool  or  Birming- 
ham insist  that  its  chief  constable  be  recruited  from  its  own  population? 
Or  what  would  be  gained  if  Stuttgart  were  barred  from  inviting  an 
experienced  deputy  commissioner  from  Munich  to  join  its  staff  as  com- 
3  [17! 


missioner,  and  had,  instead,  to  employ  some  inferior  man  from  its 
citizenship?  This  is  the  conception  that  governs  the  public  service  of 
European  municipalities  and  to  a  great  extent  its  application  accounts 
for  the  difference  in  municipal  administration  here  and  abroad. 

4.  Once  chosen  because  of  his  peculiar  abilities,  the  director  of  pohce 
should  be  regarded  as  a  permanent  fixture.  While  the  right  of  the  mayor 
to  remove  him  should  remain  unabridged,  the  exercise  of  that  right  for 
political  causes  or  for  reasons  other  than  those  relating  to  his  efficiency 
should  be  checked  by  a  public  opinion  strong  enough  to  insist  upon  re- 
taining a  well-tried  expert  in  an  office  as  important  as  the  directorship 
of  poUce.  A  constantly  shifting  directorship  of  poHce  can  result  in 
nothing  but  chaos.  To  gauge  a  well-trained  administrator  on  the  basis 
of  his  political  faith  is  to  introduce  a  factor  as  irrelevant  and  immaterial 
as  his  opinion  on  art  or  literature.  When  the  right  man  is  found  for  so 
highly  developed  a  specialty,  the  city  should  cling  to  him  as  a  business 
concern  would  cling  to  an  indispensable  employee.  Only  proved  in- 
eflSciency  or  complete  lack  of  sympathy  with  the  police  policies  of  the 
mayor  should  be  sufficient  cause  for  removal. 

Here  again  we  can  find  excellent  example  in  the  police  departments 
not  only  of  England  and  Scotland,  but  of  France  and  Switzerland  as 
well,  to  say  nothing  of  several  American  cities  where  the  principle  of 
continuitj^  in  the  police  directorship  has  been  followed  with  marked 
success.  In  Boston,  Commissioner  O'Meara  served  twelve  j^ears  under 
four  different  administrations,  both  Democratic  and  RepubHcan.  The 
same  situation  today  holds  true  in  Milwaukee  and  in  Berkeley,  Cali- 
fornia, where  over  a  long  period  of  years  the  heads  of  the  two  police 
departments  have  served  without  interruption  in  spite  of  the  kaleido- 
scopic changes  in  mayors  and  councils.  Similarly,  European  cities  always 
appoint  their  directors  and  commissioners  of  police  as  a  board  of  directors 
selects  a  general  manager  or  other  official,  not  for  a  definitel}'  established 
term,  but  on  the  basis  of  satisfactory  work.  Their  task  is  to  find  men 
capable  of  serving  indefinitely — men  who  have  the  abiUty  and  the  will- 
ingness to  devote  a  lifetime  to  the  administrative  problem.  When  such  a 
man  is  found,  there  is  no  disposition  to  experiment  with  anybody  else. 
No  one  would  care  to  assume  responsibility  for  jeopardizing  an  organiza- 
tion in  which,  as  in  all  forms  of  business  enterprise,  continuity  of  ad- 
ministration is  the  best  guarantee  of  effectiveness. 

5.  The  director  must  have  under  him  a  chief  executive  officer  who 
will  serve  as  the  superintendent  or  general  manager  of  operations.  Under 
such  a  scheme,  what  should  be  the  relationship  between  the  director  and 
his  chief  subordinate? 

[18] 


The  director  should  have  the  task  of  laying  down  the  general  program 
and  policy  of  policing,  and  of  determining  the  financial  needs  of  the  de- 
partment. He  should  represent  the  department  in  all  its  external  con- 
tacts, such  as  with  the  appropriating  body,  the  other  departments  of 
government,  as  well  as  the  schools,  churches,  and  welfare  and  civic 
agencies.  He  should  determine,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  how  much  of  the 
available  resources  of  the  department  should  be  devoted  to  the  regula- 
tion of  traffic,  as  against  the  necessity,  for  example,  of  carrying  on  pre- 
ventive work  in  connection  with  crime.  In  all  the  welter  of  laws  and 
ordinances  he  should  decide  where  police  emphasis  is  to  be  placed. 

Once  the  policy  in  such  matters  is  determined,  it  should  then  fall  to 
the  chief  line  officer  in  charge  of  actual  operations  to  see  that  these 
policies  are  carried  into  effect.  If  there  were  a  question  of  establishing 
one-way  streets,  for  example,  or  of  rerouting  street-cars,  to  facilitate  the 
movement  of  traffic,  the  director  would  deal  with  the  street  railway 
company  and  the  commercial  interests  affected  by  the  proposed  changes, 
making  the  decision  in  cases  of  conflict  between  the  needs  of  the  general 
public  and  the  private  interests  involved.  He  would,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, depend  on  the  recommendation  of  subordinate  experts  in  the 
traffic  regulation.  When  the  policy  is  decided,  he  would  turn  to  the 
chief  executive  officer  to  see  that  the  police  carry  out  the  new  policy. 

In  short,  the  director  would  determine  how  much  and  what  type  of 
police  service  is  needed,  and  the  chief  professional  officer  would  see  that 
such  service  is  carried  out  to  the  best  of  his  ability  with  the  men  and 
equipment  given  him  for  the  purpose.  The  one  asks  for  certain  results 
and  the  other  manages  the  machinery  used  in  getting  the  results. 

A  policy  may  be  laid  down  by  the  administrative  head,  but  the 
manner  in  which  the  routine  work  is  executed  gives  color  to  the  policy. 
Hence  the  head  must  have  a  superintendent  or  general  manager  of 
operations  who  understands  his  policies  and  has  sufficient  sympathy  with 
their  accomplishment  to  go  about  his  work  with  the  enthusiasm  of  con- 
viction. Half-hearted  execution  practically  amounts  to  obstruction.  It 
is  especially  important,  therefore,  for  the  head  of  the  police  department 
to  be  able  to  choose  the  man  in  whom  he  has  personal  confidence.  On  no 
other  basis  can  true  leadership  be  developed. 

6.  For  this  reason  the  superintendent  or  the  chief  of  police — what- 
ever his  title  might  be — as  the  immediate  subordinate  of  the  director, 
should  not  be  chosen  as  a  result  of  competitive  civil  service  examinations. 
The  objection  will  at  once  be  made  that  the  present  scheme,  wherein  the 
office  of  chief  of  police  is  surrounded  by  the  protection  of  civil  service 
regulations,  makes  for  continuity  of  administration  in  the  leadership  of 

[19] 


the  police,  and  that  this  continuity  is  the  only  protection  against  the 
ravages  of  politics.  This  assumes,  in  the  first  place,  that  continuity  in 
this  particular  office  is  a  guarantee  of  effective  policing,  and,  in  the  second 
place,  that  Cleveland  is  hopelessly  unregenerate  in  the  matter  of  politics 
and  inferior  to  other  cities  of  a  similar  size.  It  is  an  open  question  how 
much  is  gained  by  an  enforced  continuity  of  service  which  is  shorn  of 
power  by  officers  who  are  controlled  by  the  fortunes  of  politics.  More- 
over, the  non-political  aspect  of  the  chief's  tenure  in  Cleveland — i.  e., 
guarantee  against  removal  on  account  of  politics — is  a  singularly  weak 
argument  in  its  form  when  it  is  considered  that  the  appointments  to  the 
office  have  been  surrounded  by  all  of  the  manceuvering  known  to  politics. 
In  the  not  remote  past  the  custom  has  been  privately  to  avow  candi- 
dacies for  appointment  to  the  office  of  chief  whenever  a  vacancy  oc- 
curred, or  when  it  was  known  that  a  vacancy  was  about  to  occur.  Thus 
some  of  the  higher  officers  in  the  department  have  approached  business 
men  of  Cleveland,  newspaper  editors,  and  friends  to  secure  their  influ- 
ence and  aid  in  getting  the  appointment.  Accordingly,  newspapers  and 
other  interests  have  had  their  candidates,  though  perhaps  not  openly 
avowed,  in  much  the  same  way  as  if  the  office  were  an  elective  one. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  civil  service  protection  in  high  admin- 
istrative police  positions  does  not  guard  the  community,  certainly  in 
Cleveland,  against  politics.  Politics  can  get  around  any  artificial  sys- 
tem. On  the  other  hand,  with  public  opinion  on  the  alert,  politics  can  be 
kept  in  control  without  any  system  at  all.  In  Boston  and  Detroit  the 
incumbent  superintendents  of  police,  who  are  the  professional  heads  of 
the  police  force, — corresponding  in  that  relationship  to  the  chief  of  police 
in  Cleveland, — have  held  office  thi-oughout  successive  changes  in  the 
terms  of  the  administrative  heads.  Yet  these  officials  are  not  subject  to 
civil  service  provisions  of  any  sort.  Their  appointment  and  dismissal 
rest  in  the  discretion  of  their  superiors.  The  same  is  true  in  London  and 
other  European  cities.  Such  a  continuity  of  service,  based  on  freedom  of 
choice,  has  real  meaning,  but  a  continuity  based  on  the  inherent  diffi- 
culties of  removal  through  a  civil  service  trial  nullifies  responsibility  and 
stultifies  the  work  of  any  administrator,  however  enterprising. 

What  every  police  force  needs  is  leadership — one  official  to  whom  the 
community  can  say,  "Thou  art  the  man!"  and  who  has  power  corre- 
sponding to  his  responsibility.  We  shall  never  solve  the  police  problem 
in  America  until  we  give  honest  and  effective  leadership  an  opportunity 
to  show  what  it  can  do.  Some  time  or  other  we  have  to  make  a  begin- 
ning of  trusting  our  public  officials.  Checks  and  balances  to  curb  and 
minimize  possible  abuses  of  power  have  gotten  us  nowhere.    Complex 

[20] 


systems  to  prevent  bias  and  unfairness  have  brought  nothing  but  con- 
fusion. It  is  time  to  take  off  a  few  of  the  yokes  that  have  made  pubUc 
administration  an  impossible  task,  and  put  a  new  emphasis  on  positive 
quahties.  The  problem  before  us  is  not  how  to  build  up  a  structure  that 
will  circumvent  the  dishonest  and  incompetent  official,  but,  after  finding 
a  competent  and  honest  official,  to  surround  him  with  conditions  in 
which  he  can  make  himself  effective. 

Just  as  the  community  should,  if  necessary,  go  outside  its  own  boun- 
daries to  get  the  best  director  possible,  so  the  director  should  disregard 
all  questions  of  residence  in  selecting  his  chief  subordinate.  Indeed,  in 
view  of  the  present  demarcations  in  the  police  force  in  Cleveland,  due 
largely  to  religious  differences,  such  a  step  might  be  distinctly  advisable. 
So  long  as  there  are  in  the  department  group-conscious  Catholics  and 
Masons,  playing  the  part  of  the  "ins"  and  the  "outs,"  with  discrimina- 
tions practised  by  one  group  against  the  other  as  opportunity  offers, 
just  so  long  will  it  be  difficult  for  a  director  to  choose  from  the  Cleveland 
force  a  chief  who  can  command  the  unquestioned  loyalty  and  support  of 
his  men.  It  will  probably  take  the  strong  hand  of  an  outsider,  with  no 
group  to  represent,  with  no  old  scores  to  settle,  to  put  the  final  quietus 
to  this  factional  nonsense.  In  any  event  the  director,  as  the  responsible 
head  of  his  department,  should  be  free  to  select  his  immediate  subordi- 
nate on  the  basis  of  such  qualifications  as  he  himself  determines. 


21 


CHAPTER  IV 

PROVISION  OF  PERSONNEI^ITS  SELECTION  AND 
TRAINING 

THE  charter  provides  that  the  police  force  shall  consist  of  a  chief 
of  police  and  "such  officers,  patrolmen,  and  other  employees  as  may 
be  provided  by  ordinance  or  resolution  of  the  council."^  In  accordance 
with  this  provision,  the  city  council  determines  what  is  knowTi  as  the 
"authorized"  number  of  police  for  each  rank,  from  the  rank  of  patrol- 
man to  inspector  of  police.  The  appointing  authority  is  not  compelled 
to  recruit  the  force  up  to  the  authorized  strength.  He  cannot,  however, 
make  appointments  in  excess  of  the  number  set  by  councilmanic  action. 
The  task  of  recruiting  the  force  belongs  to  the  civil  service  commission, 
original  entrance  to  the  department  being  by  competitive  examination. 
Actual  appointments  are  made  by  the  director  of  pubUc  safety  from 
eligible  Usts  certified  by  the  civil  service  commission. 

An  analysis  has  been  made  of  the  original  appointments  to  the  depart- 
ment from  191-4  up  to  and  including  the  first  two  months  of  1921,  to 
determine  the  type  of  men  who  are  drawn  into  police  service.  Particular 
attention  has  been  given  the  appointments  made  in  1914  and  1921,  since 
more  nearly  normal  conditions  prevailed  in  those  years.  The  period  be- 
tween these  two  years  presented  unusual  circumstances.  Just  prior  to 
this  country's  entry  into  the  war  competition  with  industry  seriously 
affected  police  recruiting,  and  from  1917  until  after  the  completion  of 
demobilization  the  scarcity  of  apphcants  made  it  difficult  to  keep  up  the 
authorized  strength  of  the  department.  As  a  result,  considerable  modi- 
fication of  the  standards  governing  entrance  requirements  was  necessary. 
By  1921,  however,  conditions  were  normal  in  respect  to  the  number  of 
persons  making  appHcation  for  police  appointment. 

Previous  Occupation 
A  review  of  the  occupational  sources  from  which  poUcemen  are  re- 
cruited shows  that  they  are  drawn  from  a  wade  range  of  civil  employ- 

»  City  Charter,  Sec.  103. 
[22  1 


merits.  Considering  the  occupations  of  the  56  men  appointed  during 
1914,  it  is  found  that,  of  the  occupations  engaged  in  prior  to  entering  the 
poHce  department,  only  six  had  furnished  more  than  one  representative. 
Machinists  numbered  six,  carpenters  three,  shipping  clerks,  ship-builders, 
foremen  (not  further  specified),  railroad  firemen,  and  street-car  in- 
spectors numbered  two  each.  The  remaining  37  came  from  as  many 
occupations.^  An  analysis  of  the  previous  occupations  of  the  first  133 
men  appointed  in  1921  shows  that  there  were  14  occupations  from  which 
more  than  one  recruit  was  drawn,  accounting  for  87  men  altogether.  Of 
these,  19  Avere  machinists  and  machinists'  helpers,  12  truck  drivers,  10 
chauffeurs,  eight  electricians  and  electrical  workers,  six  carpenters,  six 
from  the  plumbing  trades,  five  clerks,  etc.  Forty-seven  other  occupa- 
tions were  Hsted,  including  a  physical  director,  tree  surgeon,  barber, 
chef,  sailor,  musician,  farmer,  draftsman,  chocolate  maker,  etc.  Those 
who  might  be  classified  generally  as  manual  workers  numbered  111,  or 
83  per  cent.,  and  the  miscellaneous  non-manual  occupations  accounted 
for  22  appointees,  or  17  per  cent. 

The  previous  experience  of  new  policemen  is,  therefore,  diversified, 
and  offers  almost  no  common  factors  which  may  be  utihzed  in  planning 
their  training.  With  many  of  these  men  the  choice  of  work  is  largely  a 
hit-or-miss  matter.  Most  of  them  finally  settle  upon  policing  mthout 
giving  much  thought  to  its  significance  or  to  its  possibilities  as  a  career. 
They  think  of  it  as  a  job  giving  steady  employment  and  compensation 
equal  to  or  better  than  what  they  were  able  to  obtain  in  commercial 
fields. 

This  raw  material,  possessing  every  sort  of  occupational  experience, 
must  be  molded  into  as  great  a  degree  of  uniformity  as  possible.  The 
recruits  must  first  be  converted  into  patrolmen  as  a  sort  of  common 
denominator.  When  this  has  been  done,  the  same  men  must  be  recon- 
verted into  detectives  and  special  investigators,  such  as  those  attached 
to  the  vice  squad.  Some  must  give  special  attention  to  work  with  ju- 
veniles, and  in  the  absence  of  women  police,  others  are  required  to  do 
work  which  should  naturally  fall  to  a  division  of  women  police. 

The  large  proportion  of  men  who  are  drawn  from  the  various  types  of 


^  The  37  occupations  were  as  follows:  assembler,  ball-bearing  inspector,  box- 
maker,  brass  finisher,  brazing  shifts,  bricklayer,  clerk,  chauffeur,  conductor  (street- 
car), driver,  electric  crane  operator,  engineer,  foundryman,  gateman,  glazier,  hotel 
clerk,  houseman,  inspector  (street),  inspector  (factory),  iron-worker,  laborer,  meter- 
reader,  mill  worker,  molder,  mover,  patternmaker,  plate  worker,  presser,  salesman, 
shoe  clerk,  stone  assembler,  trainman,  tug  fireman,  tug  despatcher,  wire  weaver, 
woodworker. 


manual  work  is  due  to  economic  considerations  and  is  not  ascribable  to 
any  relation  between  police  work  and  the  manual  occupations.  While 
the  physical  demands  of  patroling  are  considerable,  the  work  does  not  in 
any  sense  involve  skill  or  adaptability  in  the  use  of  the  hands.  Physical 
prowess  is  required  as  a  sort  of  incidental  qualification,  but  mental 
alertness  is  the  primary  quaUfication.  The  routine  manual  occupations 
count  for  little  as  a  basis  of  experience  in  making  observations  and  exer- 
cisinp;  judj2;ment  in  taking  police  action.  Thus,  men  who  have  been 
trained  to  know  how  to  do  things  are  brought  over  into  a  new  field,  utterly 
foreign  to  their  experience,  where  they  are  concerned  with  what  to  do. 
Of  course,  the  mere  fact  that  a  man  has  been  a  manual  worker,  often 
by  force  of  accidental  circumstance,  does  not  mean  that  he  cannot  be 
the  sort  of  brain  worker  that  a  policeman  must  be.  Manual  work  need 
not  be  held  to  disqualify  him.  On  the  other  hand,  it  in  no  way  qualifies 
him  for  the  more  important  phases  of  a  poUceman's  task.  The  significant 
fact  in  Cleveland  is  that  by  far  the  largest  percentage  of  its  policemen  are 
recruited  from  occupations  whose  character  is  as  far  removed  from  the 
character  of  police  work  as  can  be.  Consequently  there  are  bound  to  be 
many  misfits,  many  instances  of  poUcemen  whose  total  lack  of  qualifica- 
tions for  their  work  is  altogether  too  obvious. 

Age  of  Appointees 
The  ages  at  which  men  enter  Cleveland's  police  service  is  also  worthy 
of  our  consideration.  According  to  present  civil  service  regulations,  21  is 
the  minimum  and  35  the  maximum  age  at  which  men  may  be  eligible 
for  appointment  to  the  pohce  force.  Of  the  56  men  appointed  iji  1914, 
only  one  was  aged  below  25  and  55  were  twenty-five  years  of  age  or 
over.  Out  of  the  186  men  appointed  in  1920,  there  were  73,  or  39  per 
cent.,  aged  below  twenty-five,  and  113,  or  61  per  cent.,  twenty-five  or 
over.  Similarly  in  1921,  of  the  first  134  men  appointed,  55,  or  41  per 
cent.,  were  aged  below  twenty-five  and  the  remaining  59  per  cent,  were 
twenty-five  or  over.^  Considering  the  more  recent  appointments,  it  is 
found  that  approximately  one-fourth  of  the  1920  appointees  were  thirty 
years  of  age  and  over.  Somewhat  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  first 
group  of  1921  appointees  were  thirty  or  over.  We  beheve  that  the 
maximum  age  for  appointment  to  the  patrol  force  should  not  exceed 
thirty  years,  and  that  a  special  effort  should  be  made  to  recruit,  as  far  as 
possible,  men  between  the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  twenty-five.  It  is  said 
that  men  over  twenty-five  possess  the  advantage  of  maturity  in  their 

•  The  age  of  one  appointee  was  not  given:  these  figures  and  percentage  calcula- 
tions are  for  133  men. 

[24] 


fund  of  knowledge  and  that  they  are,  on  the  whole,  more  reliable  than 
"boys"  between  the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  twenty-five.  If  the  sound- 
ness of  this  position  were  to  be  fully  admitted,  it  would  be  logical  to  con- 
clude that  the  considerable  number  of  men  who  have  entered  the  depart- 
ment at  an  age  below  twenty-five  have  not  been  competent  to  do  credita- 
ble police  work.  But  this  is  not  the  fact.  Indeed,  it  is  only  in  a  few 
isolated  cases  that  criticisms  of  individual  acts  are  laid  to  the  youthful- 
ness  of  policemen,  and  even  then  the  criticism  is  made  for  want  of  a 
better  reason. 

Individual  cases  of  failure  to  take  proper  police  action  are  found  to  be 
due  not  so  much  to  lack  of  maturity  as  to  lack  of  experience  in  handling 
similar  situations  or  faulty  temperament.  It  is  experience  in  the  exercise 
of  judgments  required  of  policemen  in  the  daily  round  that  counts  for 
most,  and  not  the  general  maturity  attaching  to  age.  Nor  is  tempera- 
ment a  quality  to  be  measured  by  age.  True,  the  young  man  under 
twenty-five  may  become  excited  and  lack  self-composure  in  trying  situa- 
tions, and  when  such  is  the  case,  the  criticism  of  incompetence  is  merited. 
The  same  may  be  true,  however,  of  the  man  who  is  thirty.  Higher  police 
officials,  whenever  consulted  on  this  point,  agree  that  a  man  of  twenty- 
five  who  has  four  years  of  actual  police  experience  to  his  credit  is  almost 
invariably  a  better  agent  than  the  recruit  of  thirty  or  thirty-five  who  has 
had  fewer  years  of  experience. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  distinct  advantages  to  be  had  in  recruit- 
ing the  younger  men  to  the  service.  In  the  first  place,  younger  men  are 
more  readily  trained  and  molded  in  response  to  the  desires  of  the  officers 
who  direct  them.  Inspector  Cahalane,  who  was,  for  a  long  time,  in  charge 
of  the  New  York  Police  Training  School,  said:  "Give  me  the  boys  in 
preference  to  the  older  men  and  I  can  more  easily  make  policemen  of 
them."  In  training  men  for  the  mounted  service  in  New  York,  it  has 
been  found  that  the  best  results  are  achieved  with  men  who  have  never 
ridden  a  horse.  "  They  don't  have  to  unlearn  how  to  ride,"  said  an  officer 
in  charge  of  the  mounted  squad.  Men  who  know  how  to  ride  are  accus- 
tomed to  using  the  horse  for  the  purpose  of  covering  ground  rapidly. 
Most  mounted  police  work,  however,  is  done  with  the  horse  in  a  walk  or 
standing,  and  requires  a  different  style  of  riding  altogether.  So  it  is  with 
other  types  of  police  work.  The  fewer  preconceived  notions  the  police 
recruit  has  developed,  the  easier  it  is  to  train  him  in  the  peculiar  require- 
ments of  police  work  generally.  Mature  men  do  not  lend  themselves  to 
instruction  and  molding  as  readily  as  do  the  younger  men,  whose  minds 
are  more  open  and  whose  habits  are  less  fixed. 

It  must  be  noted  that  the  men  who  begin  patrol  work  at  an  early  age 

[25] 


have  much  the  best  chance  of  maintaining  physical  fitness  until  the  end 
of  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  of  continuous  service.  Over  80  per  cent, 
of  the  men  of  any  police  force  continue  in  actual  field  work  without  pro- 
motion. Entering  as  patrolmen,  they  remain  as  patrolmen  to  the  end. 
The  man  who  enters  the  force  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  may  be  expected 
to  measure  up  to  the  rigorous  demands  of  his  work  until  he  has  reached 
the  age  of  forty-six,  whereas  allowances  will  likely  be  required  for  the 
man  who  begins  at  thirty  or  thirty-five  and  continues  to  the  age  of  fifty- 
five  or  sixty.  If  for  no  other  reason  than  to  protect  the  city's  investment 
in  pension  moneys  allowed  upon  disability,  there  should  be  an  effort  to 
recruit  the  younger  men  in  preference  to  the  older  ones.  Field  service  in 
all  hours  and  in  all  kinds  of  weather  will  much  sooner  bring  disability  to 
the  man  of  fifty-five  than  to  the  man  of  forty-five. 

The  point  that  younger  men  are  needed  in  the  police  department  is 
strongly  enforced  by  the  experience  of  European  cities.  In  London  the 
minimum  age  for  appointment  to  the  force  is  twenty  and  the  maximum 
twenty-seven.  In  Liverpool  the  minimum  age  is  twenty-one  and  the 
maximum  twenty-five.  In  Glasgow  the  maximum  age  is  twenty-five,  and 
in  Manchester  the  maximum  is  twenty-eight.  Paris  has  a  maximum  age 
of  thirty,  the  higher  limit  being  due  to  compulsory  army  service,  which, 
under  the  old  dispensation,  took  two  years  out  of  the  young  man's  life. 

Turnover  in  the  Patrol  Force 

A  further  analysis  of  the  histories  of  the  men  appointed  during  the 
years  which  we  have  been  reviewing  shows  that  the  number  of  resigna- 
tions during  the  first  few  years  following  appointment  is  excessive.'  Table 
1  shows  the  record  of  voluntary  separations  from  the  service  of  men  ap- 
pointed in  the  given  years. 

The  figures  do  not  include  the  total  number  of  separations.  During 
this  six-year  period  there  were  other  resignations  of  men  appointed  in 
years  prior  to  1914  not  included  in  the  above  calculation.  These  have 
not  been  included,  as  we  are  concerned  only  with  showing  the  actual 
proportion  of  resignations  for  any  one  year's  appointments.  There  are 
a  few  men  dismissed  from  the  department  by  order  of  the  director  of 
public  safety  who  must  be  added  to  the  voluntary  resignations.  The 
combined  record  of  appointments,  resignations,  and  dismissals  for  these 
years  is  given  in  Table  2. 

This  is  a  high  turnover  of  personnel  for  a  service  supposed  to  be  pro- 
fessional in  character,  one  that  is  made  attractive  by  reason  of  its  guaran- 
tee against  periods  of  unemployment  and  by  offering  retirement  on 
pension  after  twenty-five  years  of  continuous  service.    Notwithstanding 

[26] 


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27] 


these  factors  making  for  permanency  of  tenure,  it  is  found  that  of  the  men 
appointed  in  1914,  1916,  and  1918,  no  less  than  one  in  three  appointed 
in  any  one  year  had  left  the  department  by  the  beginning  of  1921.  Of 
the  1916  appointees,  three  out  of  every  five  resigned  or  were  dismissed  by 
1921.  Of  the  1920  appointees,  almost  one-fourth  of  the  number  left  the  ser- 
lice  for  one  cause  or  another  within  the  first  year  of  their  appointment ! 

What  are  the  causes  of  the  large  turnover  of  police  personnel?  In  the 
first  place,  there  may  be  cited  the  failure  of  a  portion  of  the  men  to 
measure  up  to  the  demands  of  police  work,  resulting  in  dismissal  or  the 
initiation  of  disciplinary  action  leading  to  voluntary  resignation.  Ap- 
proximately one-sixth  of  the  1916  group  left  the  service  for  these  reasons. 
The  same  was  true  of  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  1914  and  1918  groups,  and 
slightly  less  than  one-third  of  the  1919  and  1920  appointees.  Again, 
rates  of  pay  given  to  policemen  during  the  years  under  review  have  not 
been  sufficient  to  hold  the  men  in  the  department.  By  1920  it  is  true 
that  the  increase  in  salary  brought  police  pay  into  line  with  salaries  paid 
in  many  commercial  employments.  Whatever  the  rates  of  psiy,  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  the  salary  schedules  of  the  Cleveland  force  have  never  been 
determined  on  the  basis  of  their  adequacy  to  hold  the  men  in  content- 
ment once  they  were  drawn  into  the  department.  Moreover,  salary 
schedules  have  been  devised  with  the  view  to  getting  a  given  quota  of 
men  and  not  to  getting  men  having  personal  qualifications  particularly 
useful  in  police  work. 

A  less  tangible  reason  for  the  impermanency  of  tenure  is  that  no  ade- 
quate consideration  of  the  nature  of  police  work  is  given  by  the  individual 
before  entering  upon  it.  As  has  been  pointed  out  before,  police  employ- 
ment is  more  often  than  not  considered  merely  as  a  job  to  satisfy  imme- 
diate needs.  The  resignations  show  that  many  recruits  do  not  approach 
police  work  with  any  serious  notion  of  beginning  at  the  bottom  round  of 
a  distinctive  profession  and  developing  a  life  career. 

The  police  department  is  burdened,  therefore,  with  a  good  proportion 
of  men  out  of  each  group  appointed,  who  are  soon  going  to  be  discon- 
tented or  who  have  no  serious  intention  of  performing  creditable  work  as 
a  basis  for  a  career  as  policemen.  The  fault  cannot  properly  be  laid  at 
the  door  of  the  men  who  apply  for  appointment.  It  is  the  business  of  the 
municipahty,  as  the  employer,  to  make  its  selections  with  thoroughgoing 
care  rather  than  to  pass  out  jobs  to  a  given  number  of  men  who  happen 
to  want  the  job  at  the  time  and  who  have  certain  simple  qualifications 
of  physique  and  education.  Yet  there  is  no  conscious  effort  on  the  part 
either  of  the  civil  service  commission — which  is  primarily  responsible — 
or  of  police  officials  to  influence  recruiting  in  this  direction. 

[28] 


In  this  connection  the  practice  in  the  London  police  department  can 
well  serve  as  a  model.  The  utmost  care  is  exercised  by  the  London 
authorities  in  the  selection  of  police  recruits.  Recruiting  agents  are  con- 
stantly traveling  from  place  to  place  in  the  country  districts  of  England, 
and  even  in  Scotland  and  Wales,  looking  for  available  men  for  the  Lon- 
don force.  They  go  about  their  business  in  workmanlike  fashion,  utiliz- 
ing newspaper  advertisements,  and  even  bill-posters,  and  the  greatest 
care  is  taken  to  weed  out  not  only  the  unfit,  from  a  physical  and  mental 
standpoint,  but  those  who,  in  the  judgment  of  the  recruiting  agents,  give 
the  impression  that  they  are  not  looking  upon  the  police  service  as  a  per- 
manent profession. 

In  Cleveland,  advertising  for  police  recruits  is  of  the  most  meager 
sort,  consisting  merely  in  a  formal  announcement  in  the  papers  that  a 
competitive  examination  for  entrance  to  the  police  department  will  be 
held  on  a  date  specified.  For  a  while  during  the  war  some  effort  was 
made  to  use  motion  picture  films  to  stimulate  possible  apphcants,  but  this 
has  been  abandoned  for  the  simple  reason  that  there  is  now  a  sufficient 
number  of  applicants.  The  newspaper  advertisement  marks  the  end  of 
the  city's  effort  to  attract  men  to  the  police  service.  Thereafter  it  is 
only  a  matter  of  measuring  the  men  who  present  themselves.  Whoever 
meets  the  requirements  of  residence,  height,  minimum  and  maximum 
weight  and  chest  measurements,  is  entitled  to  continue  in  the  examina- 
tions. These  consist  of  a  medical  and  physical  examination  as  a  qualify- 
ing test,  and  an  educational  examination,  which  is  given  to  those  who 
successfully  pass  the  physical  tests.  The  subjects  of  the  examination, 
with  the  weights  attaching  to  each  one,  are  as  follows:  writing  1,  spelling 
1,  arithmetic  1,  practical  questions  2,  oral  examination  1,  muscular 
strength  1,  military  or  naval  experience  in  recent  war  and  honorable  dis- 
charge L  Applicants  making  a  final  average  rate  of  70  per  cent,  or  over 
are  placed  on  a  list  of  those  eligible  for  appointment. 

The  examinations  involve  minimum  standards.  The  tests  really  de- 
termine how  far  above  the  passable  minimum  standards  the  applicants 
stand  and  are  not  adjusted  to  measure  the  full  capacity  of  the  more 
capable  applicants.  Another  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  examinations 
are  designed  to  accommodate  minimum  or  qualifying  standards  rather 
than  to  measure  maximum  capacities  is  shown  by  the  practice  of  giving 
the  same  kind  of  examination — not  the  same  questions,  however — re- 
gardless of  whether  there  are  50  applicants  or  1,000.  Types  of  examina- 
tion are  not  adjusted  to  changes  in  the  supply  of  men  nor  is  there  any 
modification  made  in  response  to  the  need  for  selecting  special  types  of 
men  in  the  light  of  the  department's  requirements.    Indeed,  there  is  no 

[29] 


conversation  between  the  officers  of  the  civil  service  commission  and  of 
the  poUce  department  on  such  matters. 

As  a  result  of  the  examinations  applicants  are  divided  roughly  into 
two  groups,  the  hopelessly  unfit,  who  are  promptly  thrown  out,  and  those 
who  have  made  marks  better  than  the  minimum  requirement.  The 
latter  are  all  retained  on  the  eligible  list,  with  certain  technical  limita- 
tions. The  commission  does  not  erect  a  scaling-wall  which  is  heightened 
when  applicants  are  many  and  which  is  made  sufficiently  difficult  of 
scaling  to  measure  the  capacities  of  the  superior  competitors. 

Finally,  there  is  no  effort,  by  either  the  civil  service  commission  or 
the  police  department,  to  convey  to  prospective  applicants  any  adequate 
notion  of  the  prospects,  demands,  and  possibiUties  of  poUce  service  as  a 
career.  The  men  are  taken  as  they  come.  If  suitable  men  are  not  at- 
tracted, it  is  held  to  be  regretable.  Standards  of  police  work  are  then 
fashioned  to  fit  the  capacities  of  the  men  certified  to  the  department  by 
the  civil  service  commission.  There  is  never  any  attempt  to  set  the 
standards  in  accordance  with  the  actual  demands  of  constructive  and 
improved  methods  of  policing,  through  special  efforts  to  get  the  kind  of 
men  who  measure  up  to  these  standards. 

While  the  police  department  exercises  no  initiative  in  going  after  the 
men  it  wants,  it  does  have  some  opportunity  of  looking  into  such  per- 
sonal qualifications  of  the  applicants  as  are  not  shown  in  the  civil  service 
examination.  Under  the  present  arrangement  the  civil  service  com- 
mission requires  the  police  department  to  make  a  report  on  a  character 
investigation  of  each  applicant  who  has  successfully  passed  the  examina- 
tions. This  investigation  is  conducted  by  the  commanding  officers  of  the 
precincts  in  which  the  applicants  have  their  residence,  and  is  a  more 
complete  investigation  than  is  conducted  in  most  cities.  This  is  the 
police  department's  sole  opportunity,  although  in  a  limited  and  purely 
negative  way,  to  set  its  own  standards. 

With  the  civil  service  list  established,  the  appointing  authority  has 
an  opportunity  to  exercise  some  choice  in  making  selections,  under  the 
provision  of  the  law  which  permits  him  to  choose  one  out  of  three  who  are 
certified  by  the  civil  service  commission  as  eligible.  This  privilege  is 
generally  waived,  and  the  policy  is  followed  of  appointing  in  one,  two, 
three  order  from  the  list.  However,  the  wisdom  of  this  discretion  allowed 
the  appointing  authority  has  been  abundantly  justified  in  other  cities, 
and  as  long  as  recruits  to  the  department  continue  to  come  through  the 
channel  of  the  civil  service  commission,  the  provision  should  be  main- 
tained. 


30 


Civil  Service  as  a  Source  of  Recruits 
As  has  been  pointed  out  above,  we  are  by  no  means  satisfied  with  the 
way  in  which  the  civil  service  commission  has  discharged  its  obligations 
toward  the  police  department.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
commission's  activities  are  prescribed  by  law  in  detailed  fashion,  its 
work  has  been  too  inelastic  and  stereotyped  to  obtain  the  best  results. 
As  a  consequence,  the  department  contains  far  too  many  men  who  are 
lacking  in  important  qualifications  necessary  to  a  good  policeman.  It 
has  been  discouraging  to  examine  the  reports  which  the  men  are  required 
to  render  in  the  course  of  their  daily  operations.  Many  of  these  reports 
show  an  utter  lack  of  the  ordinary  intelligence  demanded  in  making  an 
observation  the  record  of  which  becomes  an  official  public  document.  A 
single  illustrative  example  will  suffice: 

Nov.  16,  1920. 
"First  Precinct, 
Lieut.  Huge. 

"About  11:15  Sergt.  Harwood  went  to  the  rear  of  the  building  &  very 
shortly  after  that  he  came  to  the  front  again  &  that,  that  time  a  yong  lady 
coming  east  was  entering  the  building  and  I  stoped  her  asking  the  questions  as  I 
was  instructed  to,  this  yong  lady  refused  to  give  her  name  &  the  Sergt.  interfered 
&  said  to  this  young  lady  to  give  me  her  name  in  which  she  did  &  about  11:30 
or  11:40  a  man  coming  west  made  an  atempt  to  enter  the  hotel  &  this  was 

Mr. ,  we  three  stood  there  up  till  the  time  he  left  was  about  12 :  05  a.m.  &  in 

the  meantime  about  11:50  another  man  came  while  the  three  of  us  were  talking, 
this  man  I  dont  know  his  name  &  came  there  with  a  machine  to  my  knowledge, 

&  all  of  this  time  when  Mr. came,  up  till  the  time  he  left  the  sergt  was  still 

in  the  front  of  the House,  this  is  far  as  I  can  remember  &  about  12:15  or 

12:20  A.M.  I  was  ordered  by  Sergt  Harwood  to  go  to  the  rear  of  the  building  & 
tell  the  man  in  the  rear  to  come  to  the  front  and  that  time  this  third  man  was  still 
there. 

"Respectfully, 


"Patrolman." 

However,  we  believe  that  as  far  as  appointments  to  the  force  are  con- 
cerned, the  civil  service  commission  can  probably  be  more  wisely  em- 
ployed than  the  police  department  itself.  Generally  speaking,  civil  ser- 
vice commissions,  not  only  in  Cleveland,  but  elsewhere,  have  done  a 
great  deal  to  raise  the  standards  of  eligibility  in  poUce  appointments  and 
to  eliminate  the  unfit.  Moreover,  they  relieve  the  police  administrator 
of  a  vast  burden  of  detail.  The  latter's  whole  concern  is  to  secure  raw 
recruits  who  can  be  turned  into  honest  and  intelligent  policemen,  and 

[311 


any  plan  or  machinery  which  will  produce  this  material  upon  demand 
adds  to  the  effectiveness  of  his  administration.  Arthur  Woods,  former 
police  commissioner  of  New  York,  who  cannot  be  charged  with  being 
overfriendly  to  civil  service,  defines  its  application  to  the  problem  of 
pohce  appointments  as  follows:  "It  is  undoubtedly  about  as  good  a 
method  as  any  other  for  picking  out  quahfied  candidates,  for  the  men 
come  from  all  walks  of  hfe,  and  seemingly  from  every  profession,  trade, 
and  job  there  is.  No  comparative  record  could  be  obtained,  nor  could 
the  judgment  of  employers  fairly  be  used  to  distinguish  between  one 
man  and  another,  since  there  might  be  a  thousand  different  employers 
for  a  thousand  applicants,  and  as  many  varying  standards  as  employers." 
If,  therefore,  civil  service  could  be  looked  upon  as  machinery  for 
furnishing  raw  material,  and  if  the  police  executive  had  the  unchallenged 
right  to  reject,  after  probation,  any  candidates  who  proved  unsatis- 
factory, there  would  be  httle  in  this  phase  of  activity  which  could  inter- 
fere with  the  principle  of  responsible  leadership.  Cleveland's  civil  service 
system  needs  a  thorough  overhauling  and  a  keener  appreciation  of  the 
tasks  and  responsibiHties  of  the  pohce  department  for  which  it  selects 
recruits. 

Police  Til\ining  School 

The  department  is  to  be  commended  for  its  full-time  training  course 
of  eight  weeks  for  recniits.  A  lieutenant  of  poUce,  enthusiastic  and  am- 
bitious for  its  successful  promotion,  is  in  immediate  charge.  One  reason 
for  the  school's  firmly  estabUshed  position  is  to  be  found  in  Chief  Smith's 
healthy  interest  in  its  welfare.  To  him  is  due  the  credit  for  its  original 
establishment  a  few  years  ago — a  noteworthy  achievement  in  the  depart- 
ment's history. 

Considering  the  resources  that  are  available,  the  school  for  recruits 
is  well  conducted.  There  is  need  for  better  equipment,  especially  for 
physical  training  and  for  a  larger  staff  of  instructors.  There  is  room,  too, 
for  considerable  development  or  rather  evolution  of  the  school.  In  the 
first  place,  it  should  be  more  than  a  school  for  recruits.  Indeed,  it  should 
be  the  department's  university,  providing  instruction  for  veterans  and 
officers,  and  such  specialists  as  detectives  and  men  of  the  mounted  ser- 
vice. The  idea  should  be  to  have  a  school  in  which  all  ranks  should  con- 
stantly be  "freshening  up" — to  use  Colonel  Woods'  expression — in 
pohce  technique.  The  purpose  of  such  courses  should  be  to  keep  the  officers 
from  becoming  "rusty,"  lest  the  recruits  fresh  from  school  be  better 
versed  in  special  subjects  than  their  superiors.  From  time  to  time  lec- 
tures might  be  given  to  members  of  various  ranks  by  criminologists, 

[32] 


lawyers,  identification  experts,  and  other  specialists  in  fields  related  to 
police  work.  Such  special  phases  of  police  activity  as  discipline,  prep- 
aration of  records,  and  the  giving  of  bail  might  also  be  discussed  in 
occasional  courses.  To  this  plan  was  due  the  splendid  efficiency  of  the 
New  York  force  under  Commissioner  Woods,  and  its  wide  adoption  in 
such  cities  as  London  and  Liverpool  proves  its  worth. 

We  suggest,  too,  that  the  school  be  developed  in  such  a  way  as  to 
become  the  staff  agency  of  the  department,  serving  as  a  personnel  service 
division.  The  school  is  primarily  engaged  in  converting  into  poUcemen 
the  raw  material  furnished  by  civil  service  lists.  What  better  agency 
is  there  for  passing  efficiently  on  the  quality  and  adaptability  of  this  raw 
material?  If  the  personality  tests,  such  as  were  recommended  by  the 
chief  in  his  last  annual  report,  are  to  be  conducted,  or  psj'chological  tests 
of  one  sort  or  another  are  to  be  held,  the  training  school  is  the  proper 
agency  for  conducting  them. 

In  other  words,  the  school  should  be  constantly  engaged  in  studying 
the  problems  relating  to  personnel.  When  the  classes  are  not  in  session, 
specialists  attached  to  the  school  might  devote  their  time  to  working  out 
efficiency  record  systems  and  doing  other  research  work  in  connection 
with  tests  and  instructions.  Industrial  concerns  recognize  the  value  of 
the  investment  in  personnel  service  departments.  The  police  depart- 
ment of  Cleveland  has  a  large  enough  force  to  justify  an  investment  in 
the  same  sort  of  work. 


33 


CHAPTER  V 

PROMOTION 

The  System  of  Promotion 

THE  selection  of  recruits  is  but  the  first  step  in  the  provision  of 
police  personnel.  Filling  the  quotas  of  special  divisions  in  the  de- 
partment and  filling  the  higher  posts  through  promotion  are  the 
next  steps.  Regular  assignment  to  the  detective  bureau  is  generally- 
considered  as  a  promotion  by  reason  of  the  increased  compensation  al- 
lowed, but  it  is  not  technically  a  promotion  since  detectives  are  only 
detailed  to  the  detective  bureau  and  the  men  so  detailed  continue  in  the 
rank  held  at  the  time  of  their  assignment. 

Promotions  are  governed  entirely  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the 
civil  service  commission.  These  regulations  provide  that  all  promotions 
in  the  uniformed  force  of  the  police  department — excluding  only  civilian 
employees — "shall  be  from  class  to  class,  from  the  lowest  class  to  the 
highest,"  within  the  force.  Thus,  promotion  to  any  given  rank  in  the 
department  is  restricted  to  the  membership  of  the  next  lower  rank,  and 
it  is,  therefore,  impossible  to  fill  any  post  above  the  rank  of  patrolman 
by  making  appointments  from  outside  the  department. 

All  promotions  are  made  as  a  result  of  competitive  examinations  con- 
ducted by  the  civil  service  commission.  Eligible  lists  are  furnished  by  the 
commission,  and  the  director  of  public  safety  is  obliged  to  make  promo- 
tions from  this  list.  Examinations  given  to  applicants  for  promotion 
include  the  following  subjects:  "Writing,  spelling,  arithmetic,  practical 
questions,  as  in  the  judgment  of  the  commission  pertain  to  the  office  to 
which  said  applicant  seeks  promotion;  State  laws  and  city  ordinances 
pertaining  to  the  duties  of  said  office;  rules  and  regulations  of  the  depart- 
ment; seniority  and  record  in  the  service  of  the  applicant,  and  such 
other  subjects  or  tests  as  the  commission  may  prescribe."^ 

A  patrolman  is  not  eligible  to  promotion  to  the  rank  of  sergeant  until 
after  he  has  served  three  years  as  a  patrolman.     Sergeants  and  lieu- 

^  Rule  XVII,  Sec.  5,  of  the  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion of  the  city  of  Cleveland. 

[34] 


tenants  must  have  served  two  years  in  their  respective  ranks  before  they 
are  eligible  for  promotion  to  the  next  higher  rank.  A  patrolman  who  has 
served  as  many  as  five  years  in  the  department  is  entitled  to  a  marking  of 
100  per  cent,  on  seniority  as  one  of  the  subjects  of  the  promotional 
examination.  If  a  patrolman  has  served  as  many  as  three  years,  but  less 
than  five,  his  marking  in  seniority  is  reduced  10  per  cent,  for  each  year 
less  than  five.  In  a  similar  way  sergeants  who  are  examined  for  pro- 
motion to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  are  entitled  to  a  marking  of  100  per 
cent,  on  seniority  after  the  completion  of  seven  years'  service  in  the  de- 
partment, two  years  of  which  must  have  been  served  in  the  rank  of 
sergeant,  and  a  reduction  of  10  per  cent,  in  the  seniority  marking  is 
made  for  each  year  less  than  the  seven  served  in  the  department.  Appli- 
cants for  promotion  to  captaincy  must  have  served  ten  years  in  the 
department  to  obtain  a  marking  of  100  per  cent,  on  seniority,  and  10  per 
cent,  is  deducted  for  each  year  less  than  ten  years  served. 

The  ''record"  of  an  applicant  for  promotion,  another  factor  counted 
in  promotional  examinations,  is  determined  solely  upon  the  basis  of  the 
applicant's  disciplinary  record  in  the  department.  Thus,  if  the  record 
shows  that  the  applicant  has  not  been  charged  with  a  violation  of  the 
rules  and  regulations  of  the  department  within  a  period  of  five  years 
immediately  preceding  the  date  of  application  for  promotion,  he  is  en- 
titled to  a  marking  of  100  per  cent,  on  record.  The  regulations  further 
provide  that  if  the  applicant  "shall  have  been  within  such  five  years 
under  charges  for  and  found  guilty  of  any  offense  specified  in  articles 
1  to  12  inclusive,  of  Rule  XIII,  of  the  rules  of  the  department,^  he  shall 
have  charged  against  him  20  per  cent,  (meaning  20  per  cent,  deduction 
from  the  record  rating  of  100  per  cent.)  for  each  of  such  charges;  and  for 

1  Articles  1  to  12  inclusive,  which  are  deemed  specific  cause  for  suspension  from 
the  department  under  charges,  are  as  follows: 

Art.  1.  For  intoxication  while  on  duty  or  while  in  uniform. 

Art.  2.  For  being  a  user  of  intoxicating  liquor  to  excess. 

Art.  3.  For  being  engaged  directly  or  indirectly  as  a  vendor  of  intoxicating 
liquors. 

Art.  4.  For  wilful  disobedience  of  any  order  lawfully  issued  to  him  by  a 
superior  officer  in  the  department. 

Art.  5.  For  incompetency  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  office. 

Art.  6.  For  conviction  of  any  crime  or  misdemeanor  against  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  or  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Ohio  or  for  conviction  of  any  violation  of  a 
lawful  ordinance  of  the  city  of  Cleveland. 

Art.  7.  For  making  known  any  proposed  movement  of  the  department  to  any 
person  not  a  member  of  this  department. 

Art.  8.  For  unnecessary  and  unwarranted  violence  to  a  prisoner. 

[35] 


conviction  of  any  offense  specified  in  articles  13  to  21  inclusive^  of  said 
rule  XIII,  he  shall  have  charged  against  him  ten  (10)  per  cent,  for  each 
of  such  charges."  ^ 

Limitations  and  Defects  of  the  System 
The  practice  of  giving  some  credit  for  seniority  is  to  be  commended, 
and  the  markings  for  senioritj^  ratings  are  reasonably  scheduled.  That 
portion  of  the  examination  which  embraces  the  calculation  of  an  appli- 
cant's "record"  is  a  disguised  attempt  to  permit  the  applicant's  work 
and  experience  to  have  some  weight  in  an  examination  looking  to  pro- 
motion. As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  penalty  schedule — 
wholly  negative  in  character.  It  is  nothing  short  of  absurd  to  imply 
that  the  present  civil  service  examination  for  promotion  in  the  police 
service  gives  any  credit  for  meritorious  work  performed  by  members  of 
the  department  who  are  being  examined. 

A  mere  absence  of  disciplinary  charges  indicates  nothing  as  to  the 
character  of  work  done  by  the  applicant  for  promotion,  nor,  indeed, 
whether  much  of  any  sort  of  work  was  done.  Under  the  present  scheme 
of  record  rating  the  mediocre  man,  if  he  avoid  an  open  breach  of  the 
rules,  as  most  of  them  can  do  without  great  effort,  is  placed  on  an  equal 
footing,  as  far  as  record  goes,  with  the  energetic,  able,  and  efficient  officer 
who  has  also  kept  out  of  trouble.    No  attempt  is  made  to  give  credit  in  a 

Art.  9.  For  cowardice  or  lack  of  energy  of  such  character  as  to  amount  either 
to  incompetency  or  to  gross  neglect  of  duty. 

Art.  10.  For  sleeping  while  on  duty. 

Art.  11.  For  wilfully  or  continually  violating  any  of  the  rules  or  regulations  of 
the  department. 

Art.  12.  For  habitually  contracting  debts  which  he  is  unable  or  unwilling  to 
pay  or  for  refusing  or  without  reasonable  excuse  to  discharge  his  lawful  obligations. 

1  Articles  13  to  21  inclusive  of  Rule  XIII  are  also  specific  causes  for  suspension. 
They  are  as  follows: 

Art.  13.  For  intoxication  while  not  on  active  duty. 

Art.  14.  For  indecent,  profane,  or  harsh  language  while  on  duty  or  in  unifonn. 
Art.  15.  For  disrespect  shown  to  a  superior  officer  in  the  department. 
Art.  16.  For  any  neglect  of  duty. 
Art.  17.  For  absence  without  leave. 

Art.  IS.  For  gossiping  about  the  affairs  of  the  department. 
Art.  19.  For  conduct  unbecoming  an  officer,  patrolman,  or  a  gentleman. 
Art.  20.  For  conduct  subversive  to  the  good  order  and  discipline  of  the  de- 
partment. 

.Art.  21.  For  neglecting  to  report  his  change  of  residence  to  the  officer  in  charge 
of  his  precinct. 

*  From  rules  and  regulations  of  the  civil  ser\'ice  commission. 

136] 


positive  way  for  valuable  work  performed.  Instead  of  allowing  the  mere 
absence  of  wrongdoing  the  highest  mark  that  is  given  for  police  "record," 
a  clean  disciplinary  record  should  be  rated  as  a  normal  median.  Failure 
to  measure  up  to  the  least  that  is  expected  of  every  member  of  the  depart- 
ment— compliance  with  the  rules — should  apply  as  a  subtraction  in  the 
shape  of  demerits  from  the  median  rating.  But  demerits  should  be  only 
a  part  of  a  man's  record.  Provision  should  be  made  for  showing  the 
converse  side  of  the  record  by  taking  into  account  the  opposite  of  neg- 
lectfulness,  disobedience,  and  the  performance  of  improper  police  action. 
In  other  words,  credit  for  meritorious  work  should  be  given  in  the  form 
of  an  addition  to  the  normal  median  rating.  It  is  only  in  this  way  that 
a  premium  can  be  placed  on  accomplishing  more  than  the  avoidance  of 
wrongdoing. 

Considering  the  promotional  examination  as  a  whole,  we  believed  it 
is  not  well  adapted  for  the  wise  selection  of  men  possessing  qualities 
fitting  them  for  the  tasks  which  promotion  imposes  upon  them;  that, 
as  far  as  the  mere  attainment  of  promotion  is  concerned,  no  adequate 
reward,  hence  no  adequate  stimulus,  is  given  for  the  accomplishment  of 
superior  police  work ;  that  opportunities  for  preparation  and  for  obtain- 
ing high  marks  in  the  examination  are  unequal;  that  an  examination  for 
a  rank  where  no  knowledge  is  given  the  applicant  of  what  specific  duty 
he  may  be  assigned  to  perform — whether  patrol,  traffic,  detective,  or 
crime  prevention  duty — is  an  unsound  practice;  and  finally  that  re- 
sponsibility for  the  appraisal  of  the  personnel  assets  of  the  department 
and  utilization  of  those  assets  through  promotion  are  too  far  removed 
from  the  official  who  is  responsible  for  directing  the  men. 

The  present  scheme  of  having  an  independent  body  apply  the  tests 
which  determine  eligibility  for  promotion  was  devised  primarily  as  a  pro- 
tection against  a  possible  display  of  favoritism  in  making  promotions. 
The  plan  has  met  with  success  in  so  far  as  it  has  minimized  political, 
social,  and  religious  influences  as  factors  in  determining  promotion.  This, 
however,  is  a  purely  negative  achievement.  On  the  positive  side  there  is 
little  if  anything  to  show  that  there  is  an  advantage  to  be  gained  in  turn- 
ing over  the  matter  of  promotions  to  an  outside  body.  The  written 
examination  and  the  seniority  and  disciplinary  record  fall  short  in  meas- 
uring the  qualifications  most  needed  in  superior  officers,  for  example, 
integrity,  executive  ability,  and  a  natural  disposition  to  assume  the 
initiative.  These  qualities  are  all  important  to  men  filUng  the  higher 
posts  in  a  police  department,  yet  they  are  not  reckoned  with  in  the  pro- 
motional examinations  conducted  by  the  civil  service  commission.  In- 
stead, facility  in  arithmetic  and  spelling  and  abiHty  to  answer  certain 

[37] 


commonplace  practical  questions  are  the  measurements  applied.  The 
examination  at  present  tests  what  an  applicant  knows.  What  he  can 
do,  what  he  has  the  spirit  to  do,  and  what  he  has  done  are  significant 
considerations  which  are  altogether  neglected. 

Judgment  of  fitness  for  promotion  in  work  where  initiative  and  zeal 
play  so  large  a  part  must  take  into  account  the  experience  basis  for 
determining  differences  between  the  hard  workers  and  the  lazy,  between 
the  thorough  ones  and  the  hasty  or  careless,  between  the  backward- 
pulling,  disgruntled  dispositions  and  the  enthusiastic,  forward-looking 
men.  Any  method  of  selection  which  omits  this  test  is  inadequate  and 
hence  unfair  to  the  men  involved,  and  inimicable  to  the  welfare  of  the 
department. 

It  is  possible  to  cram  for  an  examination,  which  is  certain  to  be  much 
like  the  examinations  previously  held  for  promotion  to  the  same  rank, 
and  the  applicants  devote  much  time  and  thought  in  preparing  for  it. 
In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  lieutenant,  for  example, 
who  has  an  assignment  in  a  quiet  precinct  or  at  some  post  which  allows 
him  considerable  leisure,  has  the  important  advantage  of  time  at  his 
disposal  during  which  he  may  prepare  for  an  examination.  In  this  way 
he  may  easily  secure  an  advantage  over  a  lieutenant  who  is  energetically 
carrying  on  his  work  in  a  busy  precinct  and  continuing  it  to  such  hours 
that  he  has  neither  energy  nor  time  left  for  productive  study.  The 
latter  man  is  building  up  an  experience  in  the  practical  operation  of  the 
day's  routine,  but  it  stands  him  in  no  stead  when  he  is  called  to  compete 
in  a  promotional  examination. 

Under  the  civil  service  arrangement  examinations  for  a  giVen  rank 
are  held  in  advance  of  the  actual  need  for  making  a  promotion.  The 
grades  and  standings  on  the  eligible  list  for  promotion  to,  and  including 
the  rank  of  captain  of  police,  established  as  a  result  of  the  examination 
markings,  remain  in  force  for  two  years,  although,  after  it  has  stood  for 
one  year,  the  commission  has  the  right  to  abolish  the  list  and  hold  another 
examination.  Accordingly,  the  practical  questions  section  of  the  exami- 
nation must  relate  in  a  very  general  way  to  the  requirements  of  the  rank 
involved,  for  it  is  not  known  in  what  branch  of  the  service  the  applicant 
will  be  emplo3'ed.  There  is  no  opportunity,  therefore,  to  weigh  the 
specific  needs  of  a  given  post  of  duty  and  pick  a  man  then  and  there  to 
fill  it.  This  prevents  the  promotion  of  men  within  a  single  branch  of 
specialized  work,  as  in  the  vice  bureau,  detective  bureau,  or  trafl&c  squad. 
If,  for  example,  it  were  determined  that  an  additional  captain  of  detec- 
tives was  needed,  the  place  would  have  to  be  filled  either  by  transferring 
some  captain  from  another  branch  of  the  service  or  by  taking  a  man  from 

[38] 


the  list  of  lieutenants  eligible  for  promotion  to  the  rank  of  captain.  If  a 
lieutenant  of  detectives  does  not  happen  to  be  in  one,  two,  or  three  order 
on  the  list,  then  there  is  no  opportunity  to  promote  a  man  with  detective 
experience.  Most  of  the  captains  recently  assigned  to  commands  in  the 
detective  bureau  have  been  taken  directly  from  commands  of  the  uni- 
formed patrol  service.  Some  had  never  had  any  detective  experience. 
The  same  would  be  true  in  making  a  promotion  in  any  other  branch  of 
specialized  work. 

Perhaps  the  most  serious  objection  to  the  present  methods  of  making 
promotions  is  that  the  choosing  of  men  to  fill  the  higher  posts  is  so  far 
removed  from  the  directing  head  of  police  operations.  An  independent 
body  determines  who  the  subordinate  leaders  of  police  business  shall  be 
after  tests  which,  as  has  been  shown,  do  not  consider  the  more  important 
personal  attributes  with  which  only  the  police  administrators  alone  can 
be  acquainted.  Actual  choice,  with  a  range  of  one  out  of  three  eligibles, 
is  left  to  the  director  of  public  safety.  The  chief  of  police,  acting  as  the 
administrative  head  of  the  department,  has  nothing  to  say  about  it  ex- 
cept in  cases  where  there  is  such  happy  accord  between  the  director  and 
chief  that  the  director  may  ask  the  chief  for  his  recommendations  of 
choice.  The  net  result  is  that  there  is  no  one  exercising  the  practical 
police  point  of  view  in  looking  out  for  evidences  of  ability  in  individuals 
who  indicate  fitness  for  promotion  to  particular  posts  of  duty.  Where 
the  administrative  head  has  no  concern  about  naming  the  men  who  shall 
be  promoted,  he  will  spend  no  time  in  making  appraisals.  He  will  simply 
take  the  men  who  are  given  him  by  the  civil  service  commission  and  do 
the  best  he  can. 

This  situation  relieves  the  head  of  the  department  of  what  should  be 
one  of  the  most  important  of  his  tasks,  if  not  the  most  important,  namely, 
the  intimate  supervision  of  the  work  of  his  subordinates  with  a  view  to 
developing  the  maximum  use  of  whatever  special  abilities  may  be  dis- 
covered in  them. 

Stephen  O'Meara,  who  for  many  years  served  creditably  as  police 
commissioner  of  Boston,  defined  the  situation  as  follows:  "No  written 
examination  can  possibly  disclose  the  qualities  and  habits  which  are  of 
vital  importance  in  a  police  officer  of  rank  and  can  be  known  only  to  his 
superiors.  Among  them  are  judgment,  coolness,  moral  as  well  as  physical 
courage,  executive  ability,  capacity  for  the  command  of  men,  sobriety, 
and  other  moral  qualities,  standing  among  his  associates  and  in  the  com- 
munity,  powers  of  initiative,   temper,   integrity,   energy,   courtesy."^ 

*  From  a  private  memorandum. 
[39] 


Theodore  Roosevelt,  in  his  Autobiography,  expressed  himself  in  similar 
vein.  "I  absolutely  split  off  from  the  bulk  of  my  professional  civil  ser- 
vice reform  friends  when  they  advocated  written  competitive  examina- 
tions for  promotion.  In  the  police  department  I  found  these  examina- 
tions a  serious  handicap  in  the  way  of  getting  the  best  men  promoted, 
and  never  in  any  office  did  I  find  that  the  written  competitive  promotion 
examination  did  any  good.  The  reason  for  a  written  competitive  en- 
trance examination  is  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  head  of  the  office,  or 
the  candidate's  prospective  immediate  superior,  himself  to  know  the 
average  candidate  or  to  test  his  ability.  But  when  once  in  office,  the 
best  way  to  test  any  man's  ability  is  by  long  experience  in  seeing  him 
actually  at  work.  His  promotion  should  depend  upon  the  judgment 
formed  of  him  by  his  superiors."' 

Recommendations 

It  is  recommended,  therefore,  that  the  matter  of  promotions  be  put 
squarely  up  to  the  director  of  police.  He  should  be  enabled  to  make  use 
of  the  civil  service  commission  as  a  staff  or  agency  equipped  to  make  cer- 
tain limited  measurements.  But  he  should  be  allowed  to  place  his  own 
valuations  on  the  tests  made  by  the  commission  and  make  any  other 
tests  he  may  see  fit  in  order  to  arrive  at  his  decisions  regarding  promo- 
tions. Under  such  an  arrangement  the  civil  service  commission  might 
be  asked  to  conduct  examinations  which  would  really  amount  to  qualify- 
ing examinations  based  on  certain  minimum  qualification  standards. 
The  police  head  could  then  add  to  these  results  the  estimates  of  a  can- 
didate's worth,  based  on  lines  not  covered  by  the  civil  service  ejfamina- 
tion. 

It  is  further  recommended  that  there  be  established  a  board,  to  be 
known  as  a  board  of  promotion,  consisting  of  three  to  five  members  of 
the  higher  ranks  in  the  department.  It  should  be  the  duty  of  this  board 
to  make  recommendations  for  promotion  to  the  director  of  police  after 
thorough  investigation  and  examination  or  series  of  examinations  as  may 
seem  necessary.  The  members  of  this  board  should  be  designated  by  the 
administrative  head  of  the  department  to  serve  in  such  capacity  at  his 
pleasure.  We  do  not  wish  to  recommend  in  too  specific  detail  what  the 
composition  of  this  board  should  be.  If  the  principle  be  estabUshed, 
there  may  be  many  modifications  in  a  scheme  designed  to  carry  it  out. 
It  is  suggested,  however,  that  in  addition  to  the  chief  line  officer  of  the 
uniformed  force  the  head  of  the  police  training  school,  as  the  depart- 

^ Autobiography,  p.  161. 
140] 


merit's  specialist  in  matters  of  personnel,  be  included  in  the  membership 
of  the  board.  Of  course,  it  would  be  necessary  to  have  the  board  com- 
posed only  of  members  having  a  rank  always  equal  to  and  generally 
higher  than  the  rank  to  which  promotion  is  to  be  considered.  In  the 
case  of  promotions  in  the  detective  service,  the  chief  of  detectives  and 
possibly  another  detective  officer  should  be  included  in  the  board's  mem- 
bership. For  promotions  to  posts  in  the  patrol  service,  officers  of  the 
uniformed  force  should  be  substituted  for  the  detective  officers.  Similar 
substitutions  should  be  made  in  designating  the  board's  membership 
when  considering  promotion  to  other  special  branches  of  the  service. 

Preliminary  to  the  examination  made  by  the  board  of  promotion, 
commanding  officers  of  the  various  units  in  the  department  should  be 
required  to  submit  names  of  such  members  of  their  commands  as  are 
deemed  worthy  of  consideration  for  promotion.  These  recommendations, 
together  with  such  efficiency  records  of  the  candidates  as  may  be  avail- 
able, should  be  reviewed  by  the  board  of  promotions.  Provision  should 
be  made  for  allowing  any  member  of  an  eligible  rank  who  may  not  be 
endorsed  by  his  commanding  officer  to  make  application  to  the  board  to 
have  his  name  considered  for  promotion.  The  board  could  establish 
weights  for  seniority  and  prepare  a  schedule  of  merits  and  demerits  to 
apply  in  making  its  recommendations.  There  are  no  measurements  now 
used  by  the  civil  service  which  could  not  be  used  by  a  board  of  promo- 
tion, but  the  board  of  promotion  can  employ  measurements  that  arc  not 
and  cannot  be  employed  by  an  outside  civil  service  commission. 

Recommendations  for  promotion  should  be  delivered  by  the  board  to 
the  administrative  head  of  the  department,  who  should  have  unre- 
stricted authority  to  accept  or  reject  the  board's  recommendations. 

We  submit  that  the  establishment  of  a  board  of  promotion,  composed 
of  members  of  the  professional  force,  whose  duty  it  is  to  pass  judgment 
on  the  quality  of  men  as  policemen  and  the  quality  of  their  work,  will 
accomplish  four  highly  desirable  results :  First,  such  a  scheme  would  in- 
troduce expert  appraisal  of  fitness  for  work  with  which  the  appraisers 
are  themselves  thoroughly  familiar.  Secondly,  it  would  tend  to  stimulate 
a  feeling  of  self-reliance  in  the  police  personnel  and  imbue  the  higher 
officers  with  a  heightened  sense  of  responsibility  for  promoting  the  best 
interest  of  their  profession.  Thirdly,  it  would  be  the  first  step  in  the 
direction  of  setting  up  machinery  which  would  almost  certainly  evolve 
standards  and  means  of  measuring  the  efficiency  of  policemen.  When  all 
members  of  the  force  realize  that  what  they  do,  as  observed  by  their 
superiors  who  are  competent  to  judge,  alone  counts  for  advancement, 
there  will  be  a  new  tone  in  the  whole  department.    Fourthly,  a  board  of 

[41] 


promotion  would  eliminate  favoritism  in  making  choices  for  promotion 
perhaps  more  thoroughly  than  does  the  civil  service  commission.  Police- 
men will  be  the  first  to  welcome  an  escape  from  outside  interference. 
They  do  not  need  barriers  to  keep  them  from  rushing  to  influences  which 
they  know  have  always  worked  for  demoralization  and  the  disrepute  of 
their  activity.  They  have  in  the  past  affected  ahgnments  with  outside 
political  interests  only  because  those  interests  had  connections  with 
elected  officers  who  determined  appointments,  promotions,  and  assign- 
ments to  favored  posts.  But  once  the  whole  job  of  policing  is  left  to  the 
personnel  responsible  for  it, — including,  of  course,  a  civihan  administra- 
tive head, — without  the  introduction  of  outside  connections  that  make 
for  interference,  the  professional  force  will  show  that  it  has  a  natural 
pride  in  its  work,  that  it  desires  a  good  name  and  an  efficient  department, 
more,  indeed,  than  other  persons  whose  standing  and  interests  do  not 
rise  and  fall  with  the  standing  of  the  police  department. 

Lest  it  be  thought  that  this  recommendation  for  a  board  of  promo- 
tion is  of  too  radical  a  character,  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  this 
same  system  is  now  and  has  been  for  many  years  in  operation  in  Boston 
and  other  American  cities,  where  it  has  worked  with  unqualified  success. 
Similarly  in  London  the  non-competitive  system  of  promotions  is  the 
method  in  vogue.  There  the  civil  service  commission  enters  the  situa- 
tion only  upon  the  invitation  of  the  police  commissioner,  to  assist  the 
department  in  weeding  out  men  whose  lack  of  education  makes  them 
unfit  for  promotion,  and  the  examination  which  it  gives  is  merely  to  test 
the  general  educational  capacity  of  the  applicant.  A  second  examination 
in  the  elements  of  police  dutj%  both  oral  and  written,  is  given  by  a'  board 
of  police  officials,  and  those  who  emerge  from  these  two  tests  are  eligible 
to  promotion,  although  the  commissioner,  of  course,  makes  his  own 
choices  from  the  list. 

Some  such  system  as  this  is  necessarj-^  if  our  police  departments  are  to 
be  saved  from  hfelessness  and  dry  rot.  With  promotions  the  result  of 
real  excellence  in  police  work  under  the  watchful  eye  of  superiors,  much 
of  the  present  inertia  would  disappear. 


42] 


CHAPTER  VI 
DISCIPLINE 

THE  term  discipline  as  here  used  includes  both  its  narrower  and 
broader  meanings.  Discipline  in  its  narrow  sense  relates  only  to 
punishment  administered  for  some  violation  of  the  rules  and  regu- 
lations or  dereliction  of  duty.  This  punishment  may  take  the  form  of  a 
cancellation  of  vacation  days,  suspension  without  pay,  demotion,  or 
dismissal  from  the  department.  In  its  wider  meaning  the  word  disci- 
phne  embraces  the  conduct  and  bearing  of  members  of  the  force  in  the 
performance  of  their  duty  and  the  manner  in  which  the  force  responds 
to  the  leadership  of  the  various  officers  in  charge  of  operations. 

In  its  wider  meaning,  therefore,  the  discipline  of  a  poUce  force  is  of 
far-reaching  significance.  The  essential  basis  of  all  good  poUce  work  is 
the  character  and  physical  power  of  the  individual  men.  As  Ai'thur 
Woods  says:  "They  must  be  strong  of  body,  stout  of  soul — sturd3'-, 
two-fisted  specimens,  knowing  how  to  hold  themselves  in  restraint  even 
under  severe  provocation,  yet  prompt  and  powerful  to  act  with  force 
and  uncompromising  vigor  when  only  that  will  maintain  order  and  pro- 
tect the  law-abiding."  In  other  words,  alertness,  keenness,  self-re- 
straint, and  vigor  are  the  essential  earmarks  of  a  good  police  force. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  claim  that  these  characteristics  are  par- 
ticularly noticeable  in  Cleveland.  We  have  observed  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  instances  of  laxity  in  police  work  to  warrant  the  general  conclu- 
sion that  something  is  radically  wrong  with  the  standard  of  discipline. 
No  effort  was  made  to  spy  on  the  men  for  the  purpose  of  detecting  flaws 
in  their  conduct,  but  many  casual  observations  were  made  of  the  men  as 
they  went  about  their  work  on  the  streets,  in  station  houses,  and  at 
police  headquarters.  It  was  not  at  all  uncommon  to  find  two  policemen 
talking  together  while  on  post  duty,  and  carrying  on  long  conservations 
with  citizens  while  on  post  seems  to  be  a  habit.  Some  conversation 
with  citizens  is,  of  course,  necessary,  but  reference  is  here  made  only  to 
those  conversations  the  manner  of  which  clearly  showed  that  the  dis- 
cussion was  not  confined  to  lines  of  police  duty.  These  conversations 
occurred  on  posts  covering  the  busiest  streets  as  well  as  in  the  more 
quiet  districts. 

On  one  occasion  the  traffic  cornerman  at  the  intersection  of  Superior 

[431 


Avenue,  N.  E.  and  the  Public  Square  was  off  duty  from  11  a.  m.  until  some 
time  after  11.15a.m.  A  gale  was  blowing  at  the  time,  so  that  there  was  some 
danger  to  pedestrians  in  crossing  the  street,  as  automobiles  and  street 
cars  were  moving  without  any  regulation.  During  all  of  this  time  the 
patrolman  who  was  on  post  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the  post-office 
building  was  engaged  in  conversation  with  a  citizen,  with  his  back  turned 
to  what  really  amounted  to  an  emergency  situation  on  the  uncovered 
traffic  post  a  few  feet  away.  Many  patrolmen  while  on  post  duty  were 
observed  leaning  against  posts  or  buildings  as  if  too  tired  to  stand  erect. 
The  frequency  with  which  needlessly  prolonged  conversation  and  other 
forms  of  idling  occur  reflects  discredit  on  the  work  of  patrol  sergeants. 
Either  the  sergeants  are  not  aware  of  what  constitutes  alert  patrol,  or 
they  are  too  lenient  in  their  supervision. 

On  the  afternoon  of  February  21  a  building  in  process  of  demohtion 
at  East  Sixth  Street  and  Superior  Avenue,  N.  E.,  collapsed,  killing  and 
injuring  several  men.  A  large  crowd  gathering  to  view  the  rescue  work 
necessitated  a  considerable  detail  of  policemen  to  keep  the  crowd  back, 
so  as  to  allow  firemen  to  work  and  to  protect  the  people  against  the 
danger  of  the  unsafe  building  walls.  Crowds  were  allowed  to  gather  on 
the  sidewalks  across  Superior  Avenue  from  the  building,  and  no  ade- 
quate measures  were  taken  to  keep  open  passageways  on  the  crossing 
sidewalks.  A  patrolman  was  stationed  at  the  southwest  corner  of 
Sixth  and  Superior.  He  was  watching  the  firemen  at  work  about  the 
wrecked  building  with  the  same  sort  of  preoccupation  as  that  manifested 
by  the  crowd  blocking  the  sidewalk.  He  was  not  doing  as  well  as  the 
crowd,  in  fact,  for  he  was  chewing  tobacco  and  violating  the  law  lay  ex- 
pectorating continually  in  the  street.  A  sergeant  forced  his  way  through 
the  crowd  and  instructed  this  patrolman  to  clear  a  passageway.  The 
patrolman  made  a  grimace,  as  if  in  disapproval  of  having  his  attention 
called  to  the  fact  that  he  was  supposed  to  be  policing  the  crowd.  He 
started  a  few  citizens  moving,  but  never  properly  cleared  the  passageway. 

At  the  same  place,  on  the  day  following,  two  other  pohcemen,  one  a 
foot  patrolman  and  the  other  a  horse-mounted  man,  were  observed  while 
they  were  policing  a  crowd  which  had  gathered  to  witness  a  parade  of  the 
Cleveland  Grays.  Both  men  were  facing  the  parade,  and  as  the  flag- 
bearers'  detachment  passed  the  policemen  failed  to  salute  the  national 
emblem,  in  careless  disregard  of  the  instructions  covering  honors  to  be 
rendered  by  members  of  the  force  when  in  uniform  and  on  duty. 

One  more  example  of  slovenly  attitude  may  be  cited.  A  squad  of 
nine  men  was  observed  at  the  2.15  p.  m.  roll  call  assembly  in  a  precinct 
station.     While  the  officer  who  was  holding  the  roll  call  read  the  orders 

[44  1 


to  this  outgoing  platoon,  three  of  the  men  who  were  chewing  tobacco 
stepped  out  of  their  Hne  formation  in  order  to  expectorate.  Another 
was  seen  whispering  to  the  man  standing  in  hne  beside  him  as  the 
description  of  persons  wanted  and  alarms  giving  information  of  all  kinds 
was  being  read  by  the  officer  in  charge.  An  attitude  of  this  sort  makes  a 
joke  of  discipline.     It  makes  the  uniform  a  cheap  pretense. 

These  instances  have  not  been  given  in  any  captious  spirit.  It  is 
submitted,  however,  that  although  these  minor  derelictions  may  be  small 
in  themselves,  the  very  frequency  of  careless,  slovenly,  and  inattentive 
actions  indicates  a  general  absence  of  good  discipline.  The  whole  force 
needs  toning  up.  It  needs  to  be  infused  with  vigor  and  alertness.  The 
men  should  be  gotten  onto  their  toes.  The  department's  morale  should 
be  stiffened  with  the  same  spirit  that  Arthur  Woods  put  into  the  New 
York  force  during  his  administration.  This  means  discipHne;  it  means 
the  strict  observance  of  the  letter  of  the  department's  regulations;  it 
means  the  exaction  of  a  full  measure  of  compliance  with  police  duty. 
It  brings  with  it  no  hardships.  On  the  contrary,  it  promotes  an  esprit 
de  corps  that  makes  for  the  happiness  and  self-respect  of  the  entire  force. 

Record  of  Formal  Disciplinary  Actions 

An  analysis  was  made  of  major  cases  of  disciplinary  action  which 

had  resulted  in  suspension  from  duty  on  the  order  of  the  chief  of  police 

and  subsequent  trial  by  the  director  of  public  safety.     There  were  64 

members  of  the  force  tried  during  the  year  1920.     One  member  was 

tried  twice  during  the  year  and  two  other  members  were  charged  with  a 

second  offense  within  the  year  and  dismissed  from  the  department, 

having  signed  after  the  first  trial  a  resignation  to  be  accepted  by  the 

director  at  his  pleasure.     Thus,  there  were  67  offenses  subject  to  the 

trial  judgment  of  the  director  committed  by  64  persons  during  1920. 

In  a  number  of  cases  more  than  one  charge  was  preferred  against  a  single 

offender.     The  nature  of  the  charges  preferred  in  the  67  trials  is  shown 

in  the  following  tabulation: 

Intoxication  and  drinking  in  uniform  23 

Intoxicated  while  on  duty  12 

Intoxicated  while  off  duty  8 

Drinking  in  uniform  while  on  duty  3 

Neglect  of  duty  (allowing  prisoner  to  escape,  not  using  due 

diligence,  etc.,  etc.)  9 

Off  patrol  (sleeping,  sitting  in  stores,  etc.)  11 

Reporting  late;  failure  to  ring  duty  calls,  etc.  11 

Disobedience  9 

Use  of  indecent  language  5 

Feigning  sickness  3 

[45  1 


Shooting  craps  or  running  crap  game  3 

Interfering  with  an  officer  on  duty  2 

Miscellaneous  9 

Beating  horse ;  offering  to  permit  the  making  of  whisky  in  re- 
turn for  payment  of  money ;  refusing  to  pay  street-car  fare 
while  not  in  uniform;  abusing  pool-room  keeper,  etc. 

An  examination  of  the  previous  record  of  the  64  men  tried  in  1920 
shows  that  25  of  them  had  not  been  previously  charged  with  offenses. 
The  remaining  39  had  been  charged  at  one  time  or  another  with  99 
offenses,  as  shown  by  the  following  tabulation: 

Drinking  and  intoxicated  24 

Off  post  12 

Neglect  of  duty  11 

Late  to  roll  call  10 

Failure  to  ring  duty  calls  6 

Indecent  and  abusive  language  6 

Disobedience  5 

Failure  to  report  to  prosecute  4 

Feigning  sickness  3 

Improper  performance  of  duty  2 

Miscellaneous  16 

The  results  of  the  67  trials  held  in  1920  w'ere  as  follows:  two  members 
were  reinstated  without  punishment,  being  found  not  guilty;  in  38  trials 
some  form  of  punishment  was  administered  and  the  members  retained 
in  the  department.     Of  the  remaining  27  trials,  21  resulted  in  dismissal 
from  the  service  of  the  persons  tried,  and  six  members  resigned  before 
the  date  for  trial,   while  charges  were  pending  against  them.     The 
nature  of  the  punishment  imposed  in  cases  other  than  cases  of  dismissal 
is  shown  below- 
Reprimanded,  suspended  four  days,  fined  ten  daj^s'  vacation 
and  required  to  sign  a  resignation  to  take  effect  when  ac- 
cepted by  the  director  1 
Reprimanded,  suspended  four  to  thirteen  days,  fined  two  to  six 

days'  vacation  2 

Reprimanded,  suspended  four  to  six  days'  vacation  2 

Suspended  four  to  thirty-five  daj's,  fined  four  days'  vacation  to 
all  vacation  for  a  period  of  five  months,  and  required  to  sign  a 
resignation  to  take  effect  when  accepted  by  the  director  10 

Suspended  three  to  thirty  days,  fined  one  day's  vacation  to  all 

vacation  for  nme  weeks  17 

Suspended  five  to  forty-five  days  and  demoted  2 

Suspended  nine  to  fourteen  days  2 

Fined  three  days'  vacation  to  vacation  for  a  period  of  one  month, 

and  required  to  sign  a  resignation  2 

Considering  the  cases  involving  a  charge  of  intoxication  and  drinking 
in  uniform,  it  is  found  that  out  of  23  cases,  only  four  resulted  in  dis- 

[461 


missal  from  the  department.  One  resigned  while  charges  were  pending; 
eight  received  a  sentence  of  suspension  from  duty  for  a  definite  period, 
fine  of  days  off  or  vacation,  and  in  addition  were  required  to  sign  a  resig- 
nation to  be  made  effective  at  the  pleasure  of  the  director.  The  re- 
maining 11  were  suspended  and  fined  days  off  or  vacation.  Since  some 
punishment  was  levied  in  all  cases,  it  would  appear  that  proof  of  the 
charges  was  furnished  to  the  director  in  each  case. 

The  record  for  the  first  five  months  of  1921  is  much  like  that  of  1920. 
Intoxication  cases  from  January  through  May,  1921,  numbered  11. 
The  records  show  that  in  a  majority  of  the  cases  the  member  accused 
was  intoxicated  or  drinking  while  on  active  duty.  These  11  trials  re- 
sulted in  the  dismissal  of  four  members.  In  the  case  of  one  member 
whose  previous  record  showed  charges  of  intoxication  on  several  occa- 
sions, the  penalty  was  suspension  for  five  days,  fine  of  two  days'  pay,  and 
loss  of  the  next  four  days  off  duty.  In  another  case  charging  intoxica- 
tion and  being  off  post  the  punishment  was  suspension  for  ten  days  and 
fine  of  five  days'  pay.  Intoxication  is  a  very  serious  offense  in  police 
business.  A  policeman  who  has  possession  neither  of  his  wits  nor  of 
his  self-control  is  worse  than  useless.  Indeed,  it  is  nothing  less  than 
shocking  for  a  policeman,  with  all  the  wide  powers  which  his  office 
implies,  to  be  under  the  influence  of  liquor.  A  man  who  cannot  resist 
the  temptation  to  become  intoxicated  while  on  duty  is  not  fit  to  wear  the 
uniform,  however  insignificant  the  offense  may  appear,  or  however 
worthy  the  man  may  be  for  other  employment. 

The  London  police  force  long  ago  adopted  the  principle  of  making 
intoxication  while  on  duty  the  occasion  for  immediate  dismissal.  No 
excuse  is  accepted.  The  same  rule  could  wisely  be  adopted  in  Cleveland. 
Certainly  the  penalties  imposed  in  Cleveland  for  intoxication  by  the 
civil  service  commission  during  1920  were  not  sufficient  to  reduce  the 
rate  of  offenses  in  1921,  nor  will  the  punishments  imposed  in  1921  convey 
to  the  members  of  the  force  any  adequate  appreciation  of  the  seriousness 
of  their  offense. 

Appeals 
The  decision  of  the  director  of  public  safety  is  not  final  in  the  event 
that  the  member  tried  desires  to  appeal  his  case  to  the  civil  service  com- 
mission. No  case  resulting  in  a  punishment  less  than  dismissal  or  de- 
motion was  appealed  to  the  commission  during  1920.  However,  in 
something  more  than  half  of  the  cases  resulting  in  dismissal  or  demotion 
such  an  appeal  was  taken,  and  with  much  success.  The  civil  service 
commission  affirmed  the  judgment  of  the  director  in  seven  cases,  but 

[471 


disaffirmed  his  ruling  in  six  cases.  Four  patrolmen  who  had  been  dis- 
missed from  the  service  were  reinstated,  and  two  sergeants  who  had 
been  demoted  to  the  rank  of  patrolman  were  restored  to  the  rank  of 
sergeant  by  order  of  the  civil  service  commission. 

A  brief  resume  of  the  facts  pertaining  to  the  cases  in  which  the  com- 
mission disaffirmed  the  ruling  of  the  director  follows: 

1.  Patrolman was  dismissed  after  trial  on  the  charge  of  refusing 

to  arrest  a  woman  who,  he  knew,  had  stolen  a  ring  and  of  accepting 
custody  of  the  ring.  This  patrolman's  previous  disciplinary  record 
disclosed  that  he  had  been  reported  some  15  times — late,  several  times; 
off  post,  several  times;  having  debts  of  long  standing,  slapping  a  news- 
boy, and  faiUng  in  appearance  to  prosecute.  He  was  reinstated  by  the 
civil  service  commission  with  a  forfeiture  of  six  weeks'  salary.  In  other 
words,  the  civil  ser\nce  commission  substituted  its  own  judgment  for 
the  judgment  of  the  director  of  public  safety. 

2.  Patrolman was  dismissed  after  trial  on  a  charge  of  having 

visited  a  known  prostitute  in  a  city  hospital  and  interceding  with  an 
attending  doctor  on  her  behalf  while  in  an  intoxicated  condition.  Previ- 
ous record  shows  charges  of  intoxication  and  ungentlemanly  conduct. 
The  civil  service  commission  reinstated  him  in  the  service  without 
penalty. 

3.  Patrolman was  dismissed  on  a  charge  of  refusing  to  pay  his 

street-car  fare  when  not  in  full  uniform.  Doubtless  this  charge  was 
viewed  in  the  light  of  this  patrolman's  previous  record,  which  follows: 
charged  with  undue  use  of  blackjack;  feigning  sickness;  twice  failed  to 
report  to  prosecute;  received  money  for  the  performance  of  regular 
poUce  duty;  reporting  late;  making  false  report;  using  abusive  lan- 
guage.    He  was  reinstated  by  the  civil  service  commission. 

4.  Patrolman was  dismissed  after  trial  on  a  charge  of  failure  to 

patrol  and  ring  duty  calls.  His  previous  record  shows:  absence  from 
post;  late  at  roll  call;  feigning  sickness;  failed  to  charge  another  with 
violation  of  law;  intoxicated;  off  patrol;  failure  to  ring  duty  calls; 
drunk  and  picking  fight;  drinking;  off  patrol.  The  civil  service  com- 
mission reinstated  him. 

5.  Sergeant was  suspended  for  six  weeks  and  demoted  to  rank 

of  patrolman  as  a  result  of  charges  of  disobedience,  leaving  a  post  before 
he  should,  and  failure  to  prefer  charges  against  a  patrolman.  Restored 
by  the  civil  service  commission  to  rank  of  sergeant. 

6.  Sergeant was  suspended  and  demoted  to  ranlv  of  patrolman 

following  charges  of  neglect  of  duty  and  unnecessary  conversation  with 
citizens.     Restored  by  the  civil  service  commission  to  rank  of  sergeant. 

148] 


Incidentally,  one  of  the  cases  above  cited  affords  striking  illustration 
of  the  present  chaotic  conditions  in  the  police  department  due  to  divided 
leadership.  The  chief  of  police  evidently  felt  that  a  violation  by  a 
superior  officer  of  the  department's  rule  in  regard  to  the  holding  of 
unnecessary  conversation  with  a  citizen  gave  evidence  of  such  officer's 
unfitness  to  do  supervisory  work.  Accordingly,  the  chief,  in  preferring 
charges,  recommended  demotion.  There  was  no  disputing  the  technical 
guilt  of  the  officer,  and  the  director  ordered  demotion  in  compHance  with 
the  chief's  recommendation.  However,  in  deUvering  formal  notice  of 
judgment  the  director  completely  vitiated  his  attempt  to  uphold  the 
chief  when  he  stated  in  the  letter  which  was  made  public  that  he  did  not 
approve  of  the  judgment  which  he  himself  had  rendered.  The  fol- 
lowing is  an  extract  from  the  letter:  "While  there  may  be  some  doubt 
as  to  whether  the  mere  conversing  with  citizens  for  this  period  of  time, 
when  supervising  detail  policemen,  constitutes  neglect  of  duty  within 
the  meaning  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  police  department  and 
the  city  charter,  I  am  satisfied  that  you  were  indiscreet  in  your  conduct 
on  this  occasion,  and  I  therefore  have  resolved  all  doubts  against  you 
in  the  interest  of  strict  discipline  in  the  police  department.  My  finding 
is  that  you  are  guilty  of  violation  of  Article  16  of  Rule  13,  as  charged. 
Such  finding  is  made  for  disciplinary  reasons  upon  the  recommendation 
of  the  chief  of  poHce,  although  I  believe  the  punishment  is  severe  for  the 
offense  committed." 

It  is  small  wonder  that  the  disciplined  member  in  the  case  just  cited 
appealed  to  the  civil  service  commission  and  that  the  commission  re- 
versed the  judgment  of  the  director  when  he  himself  believed  it  too 
severe.  We  have  here,  therefore,  one  head  of  the  department  deter- 
mining that  satisfactory  standards  are  not  being  met  and  demanding  a 
penalty;  another  head  interpreting  the  issue  without  having  standards 
of  his  own;  and  a  third  body  in  no  way  responsible  for  administration 
overruUng  both. 

The  record  of  cases  appealed  to  the  civil  service  commission  in  1921 
is  even  worse  than  that  for  1920.  At  the  time  the  survey  tabulation 
was  made,  four  cases  had  been  appealed  to  the  commission.  Three  of 
these  cases  involved  dismissal  from  the  service  and  one  demotion  in 
rank.  Two  of  the  dismissed  members  were  reinstated,  and  the  officer 
demoted  was  restored  to  rank  by  order  of  the  commission.  In  only 
one  case  out  of  four  was  the  judgment  of  the  director  sustained. 

Obviously,  the  civil  service  commission  must  make  its  decisions 
without  any  thought  of  the  defendant's  value  as  a  reliable  pohceman. 
It  must  confine  its  considerations,  as  would  a  court  of  law,  to  the  single 
5  [49] 


charge  at  hand.  From  the  police  point  of  view  the  specific  charge 
covering  an  offense  may  confinn  a  well-grounded  distrust  or  lack  of 
confidence  in  a  certain  policeman;  the  last  charge  may  be  the  final  proof 
of  unfitness.  The  civil  service  commission,  however,  does  not  assume 
the  point  of  view  of  the  police  official.  Moreover,  it  brings  no  responsi- 
bility for  achieving  police  results  into  its  deliberations  and  measures 
offenses  by  standards  which  are  bound  to  be  more  lenient  than  can  rea- 
sonably be  employed  in  police  discipline.  It  views  offenses  as  mistakes 
and  transgressions  that  would  not  be  so  grave,  perhaps,  in  other  lines  of 
work.  It  often  appears  to  overlook  the  significance  of  such  offenses  in  a 
policeman  and  the  demand  of  good  conduct  and  right  morals  which  the 
policeman's  peculiar  tasks  present. 

So  long  as  the  civil  service  commission  in  Cleveland  is  permitted  to 
impose  its  own  standards  of  personal  fitness  for  police  work,  good  dis- 
cipline in  the  department  cannot  be  attained.  Neither  the  chief  of  police 
nor  the  director  can  do  away  with  the  weak  links  in  the  department's 
chain  under  the  present  arrangement,  whereby  final  authority  in  mattere 
of  discipHne  is  given  to  an  outside  body  having  no  connection  with 
police  work  and  no  intimate  appreciation  of  its  problems. 

It  must  be  pointed  out,  moreover,  that  the  difficulty  of  civil  service 
usurpation  extends  far  beyond  the  particular  cases  handled  by  the  com- 
mission. Efforts  on  the  part  of  the  head  of  the  police  department  to 
improve  police  discipline  and  standards  of  conduct  are  hindered  in  all 
of  the  border-line  cases  for  the  simple  reason  that  fear  of  failure  in  being 
supported  by  the  civil  sei-vice  commission  makes  for  hesitation  in  ini- 
tiating disciplinary  action  and  for  tolerance  of  much  that  it  is  desired  to 
correct  and  improve.  With  the  recent  year's  record  of  reinstatement  of 
policemen  whom  the  chief  and  director  have  adjudged  to  be  unqualified 
for  the  performance  of  satisfactory  police  work,  is  it  any  wonder  that  the 
chief  is  hesitant  in  taking  adequate  measures  to  correct  minor  evidences 
of  poor  discipline?  And  what  is  the  effect  of  a  ruling  by  the  civil  service 
commission  that  while  a  policeman  may  be  guilty  of  refusing  to  swear  out 
a  warrant  as  ordered  by  his  superior  officer,  demotion  in  rank  is  too  severe 
a  penalty  to  be  imposed?  The  obvious  effect  is  that  those  members  who 
are  least  valuable  to  the  department  can  snap  their  fingers  in  the  faces 
of  their  superiors  and  pay  only  so  much  allegiance  and  obedience  to  them 
as  would  be  required  by  the  civil  service  commission. 


50 


Recommendations 

The  remedy  for  strengthening  the  morale  and  improving  the  dis- 
cipHne  of  the  department  lies  in  transferring  final  authority  in  matters  of 
discipline  from  an  uninformed,  irresponsible,  politically  appointed  civil 
service  commission  to  a  single  responsible,  expert  administrative  head  of 
the  police  force.  As  far  as  its  disciphnary  functions  are  concerned,  the 
civil  service  scheme  has  been  fully  tried  in  Cleveland,  and  we  submit 
that  it  has  been  found  wanting.  It  is  recommended,  therefore,  that  full 
powers  of  disciplinary  action  be  vested  in  the  director  of  the  department 
of  pohce,  and  that  a  trial  board,  composed  of  officers  of  the  professional 
force,  be  designated  by  the  director  to  try  delinquent  members  and  sub- 
mit findings,  with  recommendations  to  him.  The  director  should  have 
the  power  to  accept,  reject,  or  modify  the  recommendations  of  the  trial 
board. 

We  recognize  that  objection  will  be  made  in  some  quarters  that  if  so 
much  power  is  given  to  a  single  police  head  in  matters  of  promotion  and 
discipline,  he  will  abuse  it  by  interjecting  elements  of  political  favoritism, 
and  that  giving  members  of  the  police  force  a  share  in  determining  these 
matters  is  dangerous.  This  danger  is  admitted,  but  we  shall  never  solve 
the  police  problem  in  America  until  we  give  honest  and  effective  leader- 
ship an  opportunity  to  show  what  it  can  do.  There  is  no  chance  for  pro- 
gressive improvement  in  a  police  department  if  the  hands  of  the  responsi- 
ble executive  are  tied  in  his  dealings  with  his  men.  Here  again  we  must 
turn  to  Boston  for  an  example  of  a  rational  system.  As  we  have  seen, 
complaints  against  members  of  the  force  are  heard  by  a  special  trial 
board  of  three  captains  appointed  by  the  police  commissioner.  The 
commissioner,  however,  is  always  supreme.  He  can  at  any  time  change 
the  personnel  of  the  trial  board,  order  a  new  trial,  or  set  aside  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  board  in  regard  to  the  punishment  to  be  imposed.  His 
word  is  final,  and  from  it  there  is  no  appeal  to  a  higher  civil  authority. 
On  no  other  basis  can  responsibility  be  centered  and  a  police  force  be  rid 
of  useless  or  dishonest  employees.  To  divide  responsibility  with  a  civil 
service  commission,  a  mayor,  a  court,  or  any  other  authority,  is  to  sow 
the  seed  of  demoralization  and  to  make  real  success  impossible  for  any 
administrator,  no  matter  how  able. 

Briefly,  we  do  not  believe  that  large  strides  in  the  improvement  of 
the  police  service  can  be  accomplished  in  Cleveland  under  the  general 
assumption  that: 

1.  Cleveland  can  only  have  public  servants  who  are  politically 
minded  and  whose  natural  dishonesty  must  be  checked  and  guarded 
against  at  all  times. 

[511 


2.  That  members  of  the  police  force  who  do  the  work  can  never  know 
their  job  as  well  as  persons  on  the  outside,  for  example,  newspapermen 
and  politicians,  and  that  policemen  have  little  or  no  natural  respect  for 
themselves  or  pride  in  the  success  of  their  work. 

3.  That  the  public  service  is  only  worthy  of  mediocre  men,  and  no 
attempt  need  to  be  made  to  get  superior  men. 

4.  That  power  and  authority  necessary  to  do  a  given  job  well  cannot 
be  entrusted  to  a  public  servant. 


52 


CHAPTER  VII 

UNIFORM  PATROL  SERVICE 

POLICE  operations  will  be  discussed  under  four  headings,  repre- 
senting four  functions  of  a  police  department's  work,  viz.,  uniform 
patrol  service,  detective  bureau  operations,  special  activities,  in- 
cluding crime  prevention  work,  and  the  secretarial  division. 

Patrol  by  members  of  the  Cleveland  uniform  force  is  a  matter  largely 
influenced  by  tradition.  Little  change  in  the  method  of  distributing  the 
patrol  force  or  in  supervising  its  operations  has  occurred  within  many 
years.  Some  improvements  have  recently  been  made  in  the  reporting 
of  work  performed  by  the  patrol  force,  although  slight  use  is  made  of  this 
information ;  for  the  most  part  it  becomes  merely  a  matter  of  record  and 
is  not  employed  for  purposes  of  administrative  control.  While  there 
have  been  substantially  no  changes  in  police  patrol  practices,  or  in  the 
geographic  distribution  of  the  force  by  precincts,  there  have  occurred 
many  marked  changes  in  conditions  prevailing  in  Cleveland. 

It  is  not  unusual  for  a  migration  of  population  to  occur  which  com- 
pletely alters  the  police  problem  of  a  district.  The  influx  of  negroes, 
which  has  occurred  in  the  Eighth  Precinct,  presents  a  new  police  problem, 
and  so  does  the  mixture  of  races  in  the  Third,  Fifth,  and  Sixth  Precincts, 
lying  southeast  of  the  business  center  of  the  city.  The  character  of 
these  areas  has  so  changed  in  a  short  time  as  to  alter  completely  the  de- 
mands made  upon  the  police  department.  Again,  there  have  been 
instances  of  rapid  change  from  good  residential  districts,  with  a  perma- 
nent population,  to  boarding-house  and  furnished-room  districts,  ac- 
commodating a  transient  population.  This  has  been  true  in  the  Fourth 
Precinct,  which  has  become  in  recent  years  a  much  livelier  district  as 
far  as  calls  upon  the  police  service  are  concerned.  Then,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  are  changes  in  certain  limited  districts  which  tend  to  reduce 
the  need  of  police  attention.  Some  areas  change  from  populous  resi- 
dential districts  to  manufacturing  or  warehouse  centers.  The  police 
problem  is  greatly  altered  in  a  given  precinct,  as  in  the  case  of  a  portion 
of  the  Fifth,  for  example,  when  several  rows  of  tenement  houses  are  torn 
down  and  a  factory  erected  in  their  stead. 

[53] 


Not  only  has  the  character  of  districts  changed  in  the  past  twenty 
years,  but  changes  in  methods  of  transportation  have  altered  the  prob- 
lem of  police  work.  Years  ago  there  was  little  traveling  at  night,  and 
identification  of  those  who  did  travel  was  comparatively  easy,  whereas 
now  the  number  of  people  moving  about  after  dark  has  increased  a 
thousandfold.  The  use  of  the  automobile  alone  has  revolutionized  the 
police  problem.  The  movement  of  automobiles  must  be  regulated  to 
promote  safety;  they  must  be  guarded  from  theft;  and  increasing 
vigilance  is  necessary  because  criminals  make  use  of  them  in  the  com- 
mission of  crimes. 

Notwithstanding  all  of  these  changes  in  the  objectives  of  policing, 
the  means  and  methods  of  policing  in  Cleveland  remain  practically 
unaltered.  There  has  been  no  modification  of  police  arrangements  to 
correspond  with  the  kaleidoscopic  changes  brought  about  by  shifting 
populations  and  new  inventions.  One  gets  the  impression  in  Cleveland 
that  police  organization  is  merely  a  conventional  arrangement,  sanc- 
tioned by  usage  and  traditions,  but  with  little  relation  to  needs  or  neigh- 
borhoods. It  looks  as  if  it  had  been  wrenched  from  widely  different 
surroundings  and  poorly  fitted  to  its  new  environment.  The  admirable 
adaptation  of  means  to  end,  of  machinery  to  purposes,  which  one  finds 
in  many  European  departments,  is  conspicuously  lacking.  In  brief, 
methods  and  organization  are  not  fitted  to  new  social  and  criminal  con- 
ditions. 

It  is  absurd  to  saddle  on  a  single  official  the  deficiencies  due  to  so 
glaring  a  disparity  between  need  and  system.  But  the  new  system  must 
be  worked  out  and  administered  by  a  new  head,  capable  of  understanding 
the  inadequacies  of  the  antiquated  existing  sj'stem  and  sufficiently 
resourceful  and  commanding  to  afford  Cleveland  a  police  department 
adapted  to  its  modern  conditions. 

A  leadership  of  imagination  and  creative  intelligence  is  urgently 
needed.  Under  such  leadership  one  of  the  first  steps  in  reorganization 
would  undoubtedly  be  a  restudying  and  recasting  of  the  present  patrol 
beat  boundary  lines.  Many  patrol  beats  have  had  the  same  boundaries 
for  years.  Indeed,  most  precinct  stations  do  not  have  a  beat  map,  and 
even  the  officers  are  often  not  familiar  with  the  exact  location  of  the 
patrol  posts.  When,  after  a  thorough  study  of  present  conditions  and 
present  needs,  the  beats  are  revamped,  they  should  be  left  open  for 
future  changes.  A  beat  should  not  be  reckoned  as  a  permanently  fixed 
area,  but  should  be  subject  to  readjustment  at  any  time  in  the  discretion 
of  the  captain  of  the  precinct  after  approval  by  the  chief  of  police. 
Patrol  beats  should  be  laid  out  in  the  light  of  the  ordinary  demands  of 

(54] 


each  particular  beat  for  police  protection,  the  number  of  patrolmen 
available  for  duty,  and  the  methods  of  patrol  that  may  be  in  use  or  may 
be  put  into  use. 

In  laying  out  patrol  beats  all  information  in  regard  to  street  blocks 
should  be  available.  Such  information  is  not  now  to  be  had  in  the  police 
department.  It  is  recommended  that  a  card  record  description  of  every 
block  within  each  precinct  be  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  captain 
of  the  precinct,  giving  the  following  information: 

Length  of  block 

Kind  of  paving 

Kind  of  traffic 

General  description  of  buildings 

Kind  of  street  lighting 

Population  statistics  as  to  total  number,  nationality,  number 

of  families,  permanent  population,  transient  population 
List  of  such  important  burglary  risks  as  banks,  jewelry -stores, 

warehouses,  etc. 
List  of  places  to  be  inspected  by  the  police,  as  pool-rooms, 

clubs,  dance  halls,  cigar-stores  with  back  rooms,  pawn 

shops,  etc. 

There  should  then  be  a  space  for  entering  the  crime  record  on  the 
block  description  card,  showing  separately  the  number  of  complaints 
of  misdemeanors  and  felonies  and  the  number  of  arrests  classified  by 
misdemeanors  and  felonies.  These  card  records  of  blocks  should  be 
kept  up  to  date  by  the  precinct  commanders,  and  from  them  information 
should  be  obtained  for  the  determination  of  patrol  beat  boundaries. 

Number  op  Policemen  Needed 
Another  matter  which  should  be  considered  under  a  progressive 
leadership  of  the  police  is  the  number  of  policemen  necessary  for  Cleve- 
land. We  cannot  undertake  to  say  in  any  confidence  whether  or  not 
the  police  department  needs  more  policemen.  Certainly  the  crime  rate 
in  Cleveland  affords  plenty  of  opportunity  for  work  by  any  additional 
men  who  might  be  appointed  to  the  police  force.  Certainly,  too,  the 
addition  of  more  men  to  the  patrol  force  or  to  other  branches  of  the 
service  would  show  some  returns  in  lessening  the  number  of  crime  com- 
plaints and  increasing  the  number  of  crimes  solved.  In  this  connection 
Detroit  offers  an  illuminating  experience.  Complaints  of  robbery  were 
steadily  reduced  for  a  period  of  four  months,  in  which  the  police  force 
was  increased  each  month.     An  official  bulletin  of  the  Detroit  Depart- 

[55] 


merit  discloses  that  in  September,  1920,  with  a  shortage  of  198  men, 
there  were  98  robberies  committed,  as  against  an  average  of  55  for  Sep- 
tember of  the  four  preceding  years.  In  October,  with  a  shortage  of  170 
men,  there  were  74  robberies  against  an  average  of  61  for  the  previous 
four  months  of  October.  In  November,  with  the  shortage  entirely 
made  up,  there  were  55  robberies,  against  an  average  of  92  for  the  same 
month  of  the  four  preceding  years,  and  in  December,  with  the  number  of 
patrolmen  brought  up  to  132  in  excess  of  the  regular  quota  by  December 
31,  there  were  48  robberies,  against  an  average  of  93  for  the  same  month 
of  the  previous  four  years. 

A  comparison  of  personnel  quotas  and  police  costs  in  Cleveland  and 
Detroit  shows  clearly  the  superior  resources  possessed  by  the  latter  city. 
Approximately  $4,500,000  was  appropriated  for  Detroit's  poUce  service 
during  the  fiscal  year  1920-21,  while  the  total  estimated  cost  for  police 
service  in  Cleveland  for  1921  amounted  to  approximately  $2,500,000. 
The  total  authorized  police  force  in  Detroit  for  the  year  1921-22 
numbered  1,926,  while  the  total  authorized  force  in  Cleveland  for  1921 
numbered  1,381.. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  has  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  Detroit  is 
larger  than  Cleveland  by  nearty  200,000.  Nevertheless  it  is  found 
that  Cleveland  has  only  174  men  per  100,000  population,  while  Detroit 
has  194. 

Similarly,  a  comparison  between  Cleveland's  police  resources  and 
those  of  St.  Louis  shows  to  the  disadvantage  of  Cleveland.  St.  Louis 
is  slightly  smaller  than  Cleveland,  yet  the  estimated  expenditure  for  the 
police  department  in  1921  exceeded  Cleveland's  pohce  cost  by  $500,000. 
The  total  strength  of  the  St.  Louis  force  exceeded  Cleveland's  total 
force  by  more  than  500  men.  St.  Louis  has  250  men  per  100,000 
population. 

The  question  of  increasing  the  number  of  men  is  one  of  public  policy, 
involving  chiefly  the  amount  of  money  that  can  be  spared  for  police  pro- 
tection. That  more  policemen  will  mean  an  improvement  in  crime  con- 
ditions is  not  to  be  debated.  Whether  the  resulting  reduction  in  crime 
is  worth  the  additional  money  required  of  a  tax-  and  debt-burdened  city 
is  a  question  with  which  we  have  no  proper  concern.  The  questions  that 
confront  us  are  these:  Is  the  city  of  Cleveland  getting  all  the  return  it 
should  from  the  money  now  spent  on  patrol  service?  If  not,  where  does 
inefficiency  lie  or  where  does  failure  to  make  the  best  use  of  resources 
appear?  We  believe  greater  returns  could  be  had  from  the  number  of 
policemen  employed  at  present — (1)  by  greatly  extending  the  use  of 
motor  vehicles,  and,  in  some  cases,  bicycles,  in  doing  patrol  work;    (2) 

[56] 


by  reducing  the  number  of  daily  assignments  in  the  horse-mounted  sec- 
tion of  the  traffic  division;  (3)  by  employing  some  of  the  men  in  a  special 
service  or  crime  prevention  bureau.  Whether  these  measures,  which 
are  discussed  in  later  sections  of  the  report,  will  of  themselves,  without 
adding  to  the  force,  achieve  the  desired  results  in  reducing  the  volume  of 
crime,  is  a  question  which  only  experience  can  solve. 

Methods  of  Patrol 

At  the  present  time  regular  patrol  work  is  done  on  foot.  The  men 
who  are  equipped  with  horses  confine  their  attention  almost  entirely  to 
the  regulation  of  traffic  and  enforcement  of  traffic  ordinances.  Special 
units,  known  as  reserve  squadrons,  consisting  of  a  sergeant  and  three 
uniformed  men,  are  attached  to  nine  of  the  15  precincts.  These  squad- 
rons operate  in  what  are  called,  in  newspaper  fashion,  ''high-powered 
automobiles."  They  are  held  in  reserve  at  precinct  station  houses  during 
the  day  to  answer  emergency  alarms,  but  at  night  are  used  in  a  limited 
way  for  general  circulating  patrol. 

The  results  achieved  by  the  squadrons  in  1920  point  clearly  to  the 
value  of  extending  the  use  of  motor  equipment  for  doing  regular  patrol 
work,  thereby  replacing  many  foot  patrolmen.  In  the  sections  of  out- 
lying residential  districts  which  have  good  paving,  motor  patrol  service 
can  take  the  place  of  foot  patrolmen  entirely.  In  congested  districts, 
however,  where  large  numbers  of  people  are  passing  on  the  street,  it  will, 
of  course,  be  necessary  to  have  patrolmen  doing  duty  on  foot  and  cover- 
ing comparatively  small  beats,  so  that  they  can  keep  their  posts  con- 
stantly under  eye. 

The  use  of  automobiles  for  patroling  the  streets  is  in  line  with  the 
best  development  in  police  work.  New  York,  Kansas  City,  Detroit, 
and  many  other  cities  have  adopted  the  idea,  with  marked  success.  In 
April  of  1918  the  Detroit  department  placed  over  150  Ford  automobiles 
on  the  streets  to  patrol  beats  formerly  covered  by  foot  patrolmen.  Each 
machine  carries  two  policemen — one  in  plain  clothes  and  one  in  uniform. 
During  the  first  month  of  the  operation  of  these  machines  felony  com- 
plaints were  reduced  from  654,  reported  in  the  previous  month,  to  528; 
in  the  second  month  there  was  a  further  decrease  of  65  felony  complaints 
over  the  previous  month.  "The  innovation  of  the  automobile  as  a 
preventive  [of  crime]  has  proven  a  great  success,"  said  an  official  of  the 
Detroit  department,  "for  two  men  can  now  do  the  work  that  formerly 
took  four  or  five,  and  are  able  to  do  any  kind  of  work  with  more  success 
in  residential  districts  than  officers  on  foot." 

Similarly  other  cities,  such  as  St.  Louis,  Seattle,  Los  Angeles,  and 

157] 


Louisville,  are  making  small  beginnings  in  the  use  of  automobiles  for 
patroling  beats.  The  hesitation  of  many  departments  in  taking  up  the 
automobile  for  patrol  purposes  is  due  to  the  expense  involved  in  the 
initial  outla}'  and  maintenance  charges.  On  the  other  hand,  if  two  men 
equipped  with  an  automobile  can  do  the  work  of  five,  or  perhaps  eight, 
men  on  foot,  a  reduction  in  the  patrol  force  is  possible,  and  the  saving  in 
salaries  would  more  than  offset  the  cost  of  providing  the  necessary  motor 
equipment. 

The  motor  equipment  to  be  used  in  patrol  work  should  consist  in 
medium-sized  passenger  automobiles  of  good  quality,  with  periiaps  a 
few  of  the  smaller  and  cheaper  cars  and  motor-cycles  equipped  with  side 
cars.  The  number  of  men  attached  to  a  car  or  motor-cycle  need  not 
exceed  two;  they  may  both  be  uniformed,  or  one  uniformed  and  one  in 
citizen's  dress.  There  is  no  work  performed  in  the  non-congested  areas 
by  patrolmen  on  foot  which  cannot  be  carried  on  in  an  automobile  or 
motor-cycle.  When  the  need  for  a  close  investigation  is  seen,  the  pa- 
trolman simply  stops  his  vehicle  and  proceeds  to  do  his  work  as  formerly. 
On  the  other  hand,  much  work  that  can  be  carried  on  successfully  by 
using  a  vehicle  cannot  be  done  by  the  foot  patrolman. 

There  are  many  positive  advantages  to  be  secured  from  motorized 
patrol  service.  In  the  first  place,  a  patrolman  riding  an  automobile  or 
motor-cycle  can  cover  from  12  to  15  times  as  much  ground  as  a  man  on 
foot.  Realization  of  this  advantage  can  be  measured  in  one  of  two  ways 
— either  by  reduction  of  the  number  of  men  employed  in  patrol  or  in 
making  more  frequent  observation  of  a  given  territorJ^  On  the  present 
basis  of  the  distribution  of  patrolmen  it  would  be  possible  to  cover  more 
territory  with  even  fewer  men. 

Again,  patrolmen  riding  in  cars  can  carry  considerable  equipment, 
often  urgently  needed  by  them,  but  which  it  is  not  possible  for  a  foot 
man  to  carrj'.  Police  cars  should  include,  as  their  equipment,  lanterns 
and  other  bracket  materials  for  safeguarding  dangerous  places,  fire 
extinguisher  for  use  on  grass  fires,  towing  rope,  heavy  firearms,  and  a 
first-aid  kit.  These  cars  can  at  once  be  converted  into  emergency 
ambulances  if  an  occasion  demands,  or  they  may  serve  the  purpose  of  a 
patrol  wagon  in  taking  prisoners  to  headquarters  or  precinct  stations, 
thus  cutting  down  the  need  for  the  present  number  of  patrol  wagons 
used. 

Moreover,  the  increasing  use  of  automobiles  by  criminals  makes  it 
important  that  policemen  be  equally  equipped.  Observations  of  sus- 
pected persons  keeping  automobiles  can  be  effected  from  an  automobile 
in  a  way  that  cannot  be  done  from  on  foot.     Pursuit  of  a  fleeing  auto- 

[58] 


mobile  may  be  done  only  in  another  car.  The  greater  possibilities  of 
the  unsuspected  arrival  of  the  police  when  equipped  with  an  automobile 
is  another  advantage  in  dealing  with  criminal  operations. 

Finally,  the  use  of  motor  equipment  greatly  promotes  the  physical 
fitness  of  policemen  in  covering  large  territories.  In  emergencies  they 
can  arrive  at  the  scene  of  crime,  disturbance,  or  accident  more  quickly 
and  in  better  physical  shape  to  do  police  duty.  The  protection  which 
an  automobile  affords  in  severe  weather  is  another  item  of  great  value 
to  be  reckoned  in  preserving  the  physical  efficiency  of  the  men. 

In  this  connection  attention  must  be  called  to  an  order  of  the  Director 

of  Public  Safety,  dated  March  14,  1921,  directing  the  chief  to  see  that  the 

use  of  the  research  squadrons  be  "limited  to  the  investigation  of  such 

cases  as  are  manifestly  important."     In  partial  explanation  of  what 

would  not  be  "manifestly  important,"  it  was  ordered  that  the  squads  do 

no  work  on  crap-shooting  complaints,  street-corner  loitering,  etc.     Quite 

apart  from  the  fact  that  the  director  obviously  overstepped  his  power 

as  laid  down  by  the  charter  in  thus  interfering  with  the  functions  of  the 

chief,  the  order  itself  has  little  justification,  and  its  results  can  only  be 

to  curtail  the  effectiveness  of  motor  patrol.     By  using  the  squadrons 

in  breaking  up  crap  games  and  objectionable  street  loitering  the  number 

of  serious  complaints  can  undoubtedly  be  lessened,  while  the  efficiency 

of  the  squadrons  in  important  cases  of  murder  or  robbery  will  in  no  way 

be  decreased. 

Patrol  Booths 

As  an  essential  part  of  the  system  of  motor  patrol,  patrol  booths 
should  be  erected  in  the  outlying  districts  of  the  city.  This  is  a  system 
which  has  been  thoroughly  tested  in  many  cities,  notably  New  York 
and  Detroit.  The  patrol  booth  is  in  effect  a  miniature  police  station. 
Its  chief  advantage  lies  in  the  fact  that  a  policeman  in  a  given  territory 
is  made  immediately  available  to  citizens  and  headquarters  alike.  A 
proper  operation  of  the  booth  system  requires  that  not  less  than  two 
men,  equipped  with  motor-cycle  or  automobile,  be  attached  to  a  booth 
at  the  same  time.  One  man  remains  at  the  booth  while  the  other  circu- 
lates through  the  district,  returning  periodically  to  the  booth.  In  case 
the  booth  man  is  absent  on  an  emergency  call,  the  other  remains  at  the 
booth  until  his  return.  By  this  arrangement  a  district  is  given  the 
benefit  of  patrol — in  point  of  fact  the  motor-cycle  or  automobile  man 
gives  better  patrol  service  than  the  foot  patrolman,  and  at  the  same  time 
a  policeman  can  be  had  at  once  in  case  of  need.  Citizens  naturally  have 
a  greater  feeling  of  security  in  knowing  that  they  can  get  a  policeman 
immediately  than  in  knowing  that  a  foot  patrolman  is  somewhere  in 

[59] 


the  district  and  that  there  is  a  chance  that  he  is  near  enough  to  hear  a 
call  for  help. 

Precinct  Stations 

Precinct  stations,  numbering  15  at  the  present  time,  have  been  de- 
veloped as  necessary  means  for  distributing  the  patrol  force.  The  dis- 
tricts served  by  these  stations  vary  considerably  in  size,  and  some,  due 
to  topographical  peculiarities,  are  very  irregularly  laid  out. 

The  precinct  stations  were  established  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  old 
tj'pe  of  patrol.  When  men  are  sent  out  on  foot  to  cover  theii*  beats,  it  is, 
of  course,  necessary  to  assemble  them  by  groups  at  a  point  near  where 
they  are  to  patrol.  As  the  city  grew  in  size  it  became  impossible  to 
send  men  from  headquarters  to  the  outlying  beats,  hence  the  need  for 
precinct  stations.  This  need  can  be  reckoned  in  terms  of  yards  and 
miles  from  the  station  house  to  the  farthest  removed  post,  and  the  time 
required  to  cover  this  distance.  Obviously,  when  men  proceed  from  the 
station  to  their  beats  in  automobiles  or  motor-cycles,  not  as  many  sta- 
tions will  be  required  as  under  the  present  system  of  foot  patrol. 

It  seems  probable  that,  upon  the  introduction  of  motorized  patrol, 
precinct  lines  could  be  reestablished,  so  as  to  reduce  the  number  of 
precincts  from  15  to  seven  or  eight,  allowing  two  on  the  West  Side  and 
five  or  six  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  city.  This  calculation  is  but 
roughly  made.  It  is  based  on  the  following  suggestions  for  consolida- 
tions: combining  the  First,  Second,  and  Third  Precincts  and  the 
westerly  tip  of  the  Fourth  into  one  precinct  that  will  be  housed  in  a  new 
headquarters  building;  combining  parts  of  the  Fourth,  Thirteenth, 
and  Eleventh,  to  form  a  single  precinct;  providing  one  or  possibly  two 
stations  to  accommodate  the  needs  of  the  southwest  section  of  the  city, 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Precincts.  One  station  should 
suffice  for  that  territory  lying  north  and  east  of  Wade  and  Rockefeller 
Parks,  since  there  is  no  chance  for  extension  on  the  north,  and  any  an- 
nexations on  the  east  would  present  a  new  situation  entirely,  requiring 
complete  rearrangement  of  station  faciUties.  These  suggestions  would 
need  further  study,  but  they  afford  an  illustration,  at  least,  of  the  possi- 
bility of  consolidation  as  a  result  of  motorized  patrol. 

Combinations  such  as  those  suggested  above  will  not  only  increase 
the  efficiency  of  the  force  but  will  lessen  the  cost  of  police  administra- 
tion. Every  precinct  means  additional  overhead,  both  in  record  keeping 
and  supervision.  By  combining  two  or  more  precincts  into  one  this 
overhead  can  be  reduced,  thereby  saving  in  expense  and  contributing 
to  a  greater  uniformity  in  police  practice.  Officers  now  performing 
duplicate  tasks  of  supervision  could  be  freed  for  more  productive  work 

[60] 


in  other  special  divisions  of  the  department.  An  examination  of  the 
station  records  and  reports  in  the  Tenth  and  Twelfth  Precincts  showed 
that  there  is  a  very  small  volume  of  work,  and  yet  a  full  complement  of 
officers  is  required  to  supervise  approximately  35  men  in  each  of  these 
precincts.  Seventy  men,  or  even  as  many  as  125,  distributed  over  four 
platoons,  can  easily  be  managed  in  a  single  command  and  the  clerical 
duties  incident  to  the  work  of  such  a  number  of  men  can  well  be  handled 
without  addition  to  the  number  of  men  employed  in  clerical  work  in  a 
single  precinct.  On  the  whole,  discipline  is  likely  to  be  better  under  the 
business-like  aspects  of  a  large  unit  than  in  the  home-like  atmosphere  of 
small,  quiet  precincts. 

Again,  emphasis  must  be  laid  on  the  fact  that  these  improvements 
and  others  of  a  similar  nature  can  come  only  as  the  result  of  a  sustained, 
intelligent  leadership  of  the  police.  They  cannot  be  successfully  in- 
stalled by  law  or  ordinance,  or  by  any  other  legislative  short-cut.  They 
must  be  thoughtfully  matured  over  a  period  of  years.  They  must  be 
the  result  of  careful  planning,  of  fearless  initiative,  and  wise  guidance. 
This  means  a  leadership  of  brains,  free  from  unwarranted  interference. 
More  than  anything  else  the  Cleveland  force  needs  such  leadership  today. 

Recommendations 
The  patrol  service  should  be  reorganized  so  as  to  accommodate  the 
changes  which  the  use  of  motor  equipment  demands.    It  is  recommended, 
therefore,  that — 

(1)  Motor  equipment  be  used  in  regular  patrol  work. 

(2)  Patrol  booths  be  established. 

(3)  Police  precincts  be  consolidated  so  as  to  reduce  the  number 
from  15  to  seven  or  eight. 

(4)  Patrol  beats  be  rearranged. 


61 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  DETECTIVE  BUREAU 

THE  detective  bureau  is  the  second  major  division  of  the  police 
organization.  It  is  a  bureau  of  specialized  operations,  involving 
not  only  the  solution  of  crimes  which  have  occurred  despite  the 
preventive  efforts  of  all  other  divisions,  but  the  apprehension  of  the 
perpetrators  who  have  escaped  after  the  commission  of  crime.  Work 
on  the  solution  of  murder  and  manslaughter  cases  requires  considerable 
time,  but  the  investigation  of  complaints  involving  loss  of  property  is  by 
far  the  largest  part  of  the  detective  bureau's  work.  These  complaints 
include  robbery,  burglary,  housebreaking,  grand  larceny,  frauds,  and 
swindles. 

The  bureau  is  commanded  by  a  deputy  inspector  of  police,  who  is 
detailed  by  the  chief  of  police  to  serve  as  inspector  of  detectives.  Simi- 
larly, he  may  be  transferred  from  the  detective  bureau  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  chief.  Two  captains  of  police  are  detailed  to  serve  as  captains  of 
detectives,  assisting  the  inspector  in  command.  These  commanding 
officers  are  generally  drawn  from  commands  of  the  uniformed  patrol 
force,  instead  of  being  taken  from  the  detective  bureau  membership. 

The  present  inspector  of  detectives  served  as  a  captain  in  command  of 
the  Third  Police  Precinct  prior  to  being  detailed  to  head  the  detective 
bureau.  However,  he  had  had  some  previous  experience  in  detective 
work  as  a  member  of  the  old  detective  bureau.  One  of  the  two  captains 
of  detectives  was  previously  in  command  of  a  precinct  station,  and  lat^r 
had  charge  of  the  police  training  school,  from  which  he  was  transferred 
to  the  detective  service.  The  other  captain  was  originally  a  patrolman 
detailed  to  the  detective  bureau.  Upon  receiving  his  promotion  to  the 
rank  of  sergeant,  he  was  transferred  from  the  detective  service  to  a  pre- 
cinct to  supervise  uniformed  patrolmen,  afterward  going  to  the  traffic 
division.  Upon  being  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  desk  duty  in  a  precinct.  Later  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
captain  and  placed  in  command  of  a  precinct  station.  From  this  post 
he  was  transferred  to  the  detective  bureau. 

From  records  of  this  sort  it  is  easy  to  see  that  no  attempt  is  made  to 
develop   detective   commanders   from   detective   personnel.     The   de- 

[621 


tective  bureau  in  Cleveland  is  directed  by  men  who  have  had  no  ade- 
quate training  in  the  detective  business,  and  whose  promotion  to  leader- 
ship depended,  in  the  first  instance,  on  attaining  a  certain  rank,  and 
only  secondarily  on  experience  and  fitness.  Under  the  present  system, 
if  a  patrolman,  serving  as  a  detective,  obtains  promotion  to  the  rank  of 
sergeant,  he  must  leave  detective  work  and  take  up  uniformed  patrol 
supervision  merely  because  there  is  no  rank  of  sergeant  in  the  detective 
bureau.  He  must  then  continue  in  the  uniformed  patrol  or  trafl&c  ser- 
vice until  he  has  attained  the  rank  of  captain  before  he  again  becomes 
eligible  for  transfer  to  the  detective  service.  The  detectives  who  do 
not  ascend  through  the  uniformed  ranks  of  sergeant  and  lieutenant 
to  captain  are  barred  from  attaining  a  post  of  command  in  the  detec- 
tive bureau. 

There  are  81  patrolmen  detailed  to  the  detective  bureau  at  the 
present  time.     They  are  assigned  to  various  duties  as  follows: 

4  assigned  to  desk  duty 

5  to  office  duty — clerical  work 
5  to  the  automobile  squad 

4  to  the  bureau  of  criminal  identification 
3  to  the  taxicab  quad 
2  to  the  pawnshop  squad 
1  to  apartment  house  detail 
1  to  the  hotel  detail 
1  to  the  bank  detail 
1  to  the  rooming-house  detail 
50  on  general  assignments 

Of  the  50  general  men,  five  are  carried  on  the  detective  bureau  roll, 
but  assigned  outside  of  the  bureau  as  follows :  one  as  a  clerk  in  the  chief's 
office,  one  to  the  law  department  for  investigation  of  civil  action  cases 
involving  possible  damages  to  the  city,  one  in  charge  of  the  department's 
telephone  exchange,  one  as  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  director  of  public 
safety,  and  one  to  the  mayor's  office,  serving  as  the  mayor's  bodyguard. 
These  men  are  not  doing  detective  work  and  there  is  no  justification  for 
carrying  them  as  detectives. 

All  detectives  are  taken  from  the  rank  of  patrolmen  in  the  uniformed 
force.  Detectives  who  have  served  in  the  bureau  for  ten  years  or 
more  are  paid  a  salary  of  $2,406.80,  which  is  slightly  more  than  the 
salary  paid  to  lieutenants  of  police  in  the  uniformed  force;  those  with 
less  than  ten  years'  service  to  their  credit  receive  S2,288,  which  is  the 
same  as  the  salary  of  a  uniformed  lieutenant.  Detectives  are  selected 
by  the  chief  of  police.  Whether  he  is  permitted  to  exercise  his  own  judg- 
ment without  influence  of  any  sort  depends  on  the  mayor  and  director. 

163] 


Detectives  may  be  returned  to  duty  in  the  uniformed  force  in  the  discre- 
tion of  the  chief  of  pohce  and  by  his  order.  The  privilege,  however,  is 
rarely  used.  The  detective  assignment  is  considered  as  a  promotion, 
and  loss  of  the  assignment  occurs  only  in  such  extreme  cases  as  would 
result  in  demotion  in  rank  in  the  uniformed  force  as  a  result  of  charges  of 

incompetency. 

Poor  Quality  of  Detectives 

The  detective  personnel  is  supposed  to  be  the  "cream"  of  the  uni- 
formed patrol  force.  The  superior  type  of  work  demanded  of  detectives 
and  the  greater  compensation  which  they  receive  would  seem  to  require 
that  they  be  the  ablest  patrolmen  in  the  service.  We  doubt  the  truth 
of  the  presumption  that  the  detective  personnel  in  Cleveland  is  entitled 
to  rank  as  a  group  having  superior  abilities.  In  the  first  place,  there 
appears  to  be  no  adequate  provision  for  selecting  detectives  on  the  basis 
of  proved  worth  in  doing  the  type  of  work  required.  No  particular 
standards  are  followed.  Not  infrequently  policemen  are  detailed  to  the 
detective  bureau  in  recognition  of  daring  and  as  a  reward  for  the  per- 
formance of  some  unusually  good  bit  of  work  in  the  uniformed  force, 
such  as  making  an  arrest  at  the  scene  of  a  major  crime.  Daring  and 
quick  wit  are  valuable  assets  to  the  detective,  but  their  display  in  a 
single  case  does  not  warrant  the  conclusion  that  the  men  have  other 
qualities  of  perception  and  aptitude  needed  in  detective  work.  The 
point  is  that  there  is  no  regularly  pursued  practice  of  looking  out  for 
detective  material  or  of  trying  men  out  in  an  apprenticeship  assignment 
in  the  detective  service. 

Another  consideration  on  which  we  base  our  conclusion  that  the 
detective  personnel  is  not  of  the  uniformly  high  caliber  which  should 
characterize  a  detective  force  is  the  low  rating  of  the  detective  group  in 
the  United  States  Army  Alpha  Test.  It  is  a  singular  and  significant 
point  that  the  detectives  as  a  group  made  a  lower  average  rating  in  this 
standard  psychological  test  than  any  other  group  in  the  police  service. 
The  range  of  scores  made  by  10  different  groups  is  shown  in  Table  3.^ 

'  This  psychological  examination  was  made  in  connection  with  the  present  sur- 
vey.    The  method  of  marking  is  as  follows: 

Grade  of 
intelligence  Explanation 

A  Ver>'  superior  intelligence 

B  Superior  intelligence 

C+  High  average  intelligence 

C  Average  intelligence 

C —  Low  average  intelligence 

D  Inferior  intelligence 

E  Ver>'  inferior  intelligence 

[64] 


Approximate 

mental  age, 

Alpha  score 

years 

135-212 

105-134 

7S-104 

45-  74 

25-  44 

11-13 

15-  24 

9-10.9 

0-  14 

Below  9 

TABLE  3.— MEDIAN  SCORES  AND  RANGE  OF  SCORES  OF  POLICE 

DIVISIONS 


Rank  or  division 

Median 

Range  of  scores  of  each 

division 

Low  third 

Middle  third 

High  third 

Captains 

9SC  + 

50-75 

76-104 

10.5-154 

Lieutenants 

95  C  + 

36-81 

82-108 

109-165 

Sergeants 

99  C+ 

28-79 

79-109 

110-166 

Vice  squad 

75C=F 

23-61 

64-  84 

84-134 

Detectives 

59  C 

23-50 

51-  71 

72-131 

Training  school 

63  C 

25-56 

57-  74 

77-138 

Traffic 

61  C 

5-56 

56-  74 

75-137 

Mounted 

78  C+ 

22-59 

60-  91 

92-155 

Emergency 

67  C 

19-64 

65-  80 

83-150 

Patrolmen 

67  C 

6-52 

53-  82 

82-170 

From  this  record  it  is  seen  that  the  average  of  scores  made  by  63  de- 
tectives is  8  points  below  the  average  of  scores  made  by  759  patrolmen 
doing  duty  in  uniform,  16  points  below  the  average  score  of  26  vice 
bureau  operatives  who  were  chosen  from  the  uniformed  force  in  the 
same  way  that  detectives  are,  and  36  points  below  the  average  made  by 
46  lieutenants  who  are  rated  on  approximately  the  same  salary  schedule 
as  detectives. 

Another  basis  of  scoring  which  shows  the  number  attaining  different 
group  ratings  is  given  in  Tables  4  and  5. 

From  this  tabulation  it  is  seen  that  no  detective  was  rated  in  the  A 
group,  although  all  the  other  classes  of  the  service  had  some  percentage  of 
their  membership  in  this  grouping.  The  percentage  of  detectives  in  the 
B  group  was  less  by  one-half  than  that  of  any  other  class,  and  six  to  seven 
times  smaller  than  the  percentage  of  lieutenants,  sergeants,  and  vice 
bureau  operatives  in  the  B  group.  Two  detectives  were  in  what  is  rated 
as  the  failure  group,  with  a  score  of  less  than  25,  while  no  member  of  the 
lieutenants,  sergeants,  or  vice  bureau  classes  fell  so  low. 

Of  course  the  Alpha  test  is  not  a  complete  measurement  of  ability. 
As  has  been  pointed  out,  the  ratings  are  useful  as  measures  of  general  in- 
telligence, but  they  do  not  include  measurements  of  personality  and 
character  traits  such  as  initiative,  leadership,  bravery,  honesty,  etc. 
They  are  measures  to  indicate  the  speed  and  accuracy  with  which  persons 
are  able  to  deal  successfully  with  new  situations  and  problems.  But  the 
comparison,  even  on  this  limited  basis,  is  highly  significant.  The  "cream 
of  the  uniformed  force"  serving  as  detectives  should  not  fall  below  the 
uniformed  force  in  a  test  involving  general  information  and  ability  to 
meet  new  situations  quickly  and  accurately. 
6  [65] 


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Poor  Work  of  Detective  Bureau 
One  does  not  have  to  resort  to  psychological  tests  to  prove  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  the  detective  personnel  or  the  general  run-down  condition  of  the 
whole  bureau.  A  glance  at  the  organization  or  an  examination  of  the 
reports  of  the  men  easily  sustains  the  point.  With  the  exception  of  the 
criminal  identification  section,  which  is  ably  managed,  the  whole  bureau 
seems  to  be  run  on  a  small-town  pattern.  Poor  office  arrangements  no 
doubt  contribute  in  some  measure  to  the  appearance  of  disorder  and 
confusion  generally  evident  in  the  bureau.  Clerks,  officers,  detectives, 
witnesses,  and  citizens  shuffle  around  in  a  large  room,  and  there  is  no 
appearance  of  system  or  method  in  the  hurly-burly  of  the  day's  routine. 
Supervision  of  operations  is  poor  when  it  is  employed  at  all,  and  the 
records  are  inadequate  and  carelessly  prepared. 

Lest  this  be  thought  too  sweeping  an  indictment  of  the  work  of  the 
bureau,  it  may  be  well  to  quote  some  of  the  reports  of  the  detectives. 
During  the  month  of  January,  1921,  Detectives  Callahan  and  Cowles, 
working  together,  handled  16  cases  of  burglary  and  larceny.  The  follow- 
ing are  their  own  complete  reports  of  their  activities  on  burglary  cases 
during  this  period: 

1.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  this  complaint  we  were  unable 
to  locate  the  men  suspected  will  continue  on  same." 

2.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  this  complaint  we  were  unable 
to  get  any  trace  of  the  thief  or  property." 

3.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  this  complaint  was  unable  to 
locate  the  man  suspected." 

4.  "Detective  Callahan  and  myself  investigated  above  report,  inter- 
viewed Mr. also  made  inquiries  in  that  vicinity,  was  unable  to 

get  any  further  information  than  original  report." 

5.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  this  complaint  we  were  unable 
to  learn  anything  on  same." 

6.  "  Detective  Callahan  and  myself  investigated  above  report,  interviewed 

manager  also  made  inquiries  in  that  vicinity  was  unable  to 

get  any  trace  off  the  thief  or  thieves.     They  do  not  suspect  any  one." 

7.  "  Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  we  were  unable  to  get  any  trace 
of  the  thief  or  property." 

8.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  this  complaint  we  were  unable 
to  learn  anything  on  same." 

9.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  the  complaint  was  unable  to 
get  any  trace  of  the  thief  or  property." 

10.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  this  complaint  we  were  unable 
to  get  any  trace  of  the  thief  or  property  this  job  evidently  was  done  by 
boys." 

[67] 


11.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  this  complaint  we  were  unable 
to  learn  anything  on  same." 

12.  "Det.  Callahan  and  myself  investigation  above  report.     Interviewed 

Mr.  was  unable  to  receive  any  further  information  or  any  trace 

of  the  Burglars." 

13.  "Det.  Callahan  and  mj'self  investigated  above  report,  interviewed 

Mr.  Ixarned  that  the  property  stolen  was  insured  for  more 

than  he  valued  it  at.     Satisfied  this  report  is  not  Legidiment." 

14.  "Det.  Callahan  and  myself  investigated  above  report,  interviewed 

Mr. .     Also  made  inquires  in  that  vicinity,  was  unable  to  get  any 

trace  of  Burglars  &  property.     Will  continue." 

15.  "Det.  Callahan  &  myself  investigated  above  report  was  unable  to 
give  any  description.     Does  not  suspect  any  one." 

16.  "Detective  Cowles  and  I  investigated  this  complaint  we  were  unable 
to  learn  anything  on  same." 

The  above  represents  a  whole  month's  work  of  two  detectives  on 
burglary  cases.  Reports  of  this  type  could  be  instanced  almost  indefi- 
nitely. In  many  cases  they  seem  to  show  that  the  detectives  merely  veri- 
fied the  fact  that  a  crime  had  been  committed,  and  beyond  asking  a 
question  or  two  of  the  neighbors,  made  no  attempt  to  solve  the  mystery. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  wonder  is  not  that  crimes  occur  in  Cleve- 
land, but  that  an)"-  perpetrators  are  ever  arrested. 

Inadequate  Supervision  of  Detective  Work 
One  of  the  significant  causes  of  this  situation  just  described  is  the 
lack  of  adequate  supervision  of  detective  operations.  Apparently  each 
detective  determines  for  himself  just  how  much  he  shall  do  on  a  given 
case  and  when  he  shall  regard  the  case  as  closed.  Of  any  adequate  fol- 
low-up on  individual  cases,  there  is  none.  There  is  no  administrative 
oversight  to  put  enthusiasm  and  determination  into  the  solution  of 
individual  crimes.  The  commanding  officers  of  the  detective  bureau  de- 
vote most  of  their  time  to  important  cases  upon  which  newspaper  com- 
ment is  centered,  and  very  little  time  to  the  less  interesting  task  of  man- 
agement. Indeed,  the  role  of  detective  officers  is  that  of  super-detective 
case  workers  rather  than  supervisors.  The  commanding  officers  lock 
their  offices  and  go  out  into  the  field  to  assist  in  the  investigation  of 
murder  cases,  pajToll  robberies,  and  other  important  crimes.  They  have 
been  accustomed  also  to  make  trips  to  other  cities,  sometimes  as  far 
away  as  California  and  New  York,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  to 
Cleveland  fugitives  held  by  the  police  in  other  jurisdictions.  When  the 
inspector  of  detectives  makes  such  a  trip,  the  detective  bureau  is  man- 
aged by  an  assistant.    This  practice  must  be  condemned  without  reserva- 

[68] 


tion.  Ordinary  detectives  can  be  assigned  to  make  such  journeys.  It  is 
far  more  important  that  detective  commanders  stay  on  the  job  and  keep 
in  constant  touch  with  the  mass  of  less  spectacular  cases  where  the 
scrutiny  of  immediate  supervision  is  needed.  Otherwise  the  minor  cases 
will  slip  by  almost  unnoticed  except  for  a  perfunctory  examination  by  the 
detectives  assigned  to  them. 

Briefly,  the  detective  bureau  needs  administration  badly.  It  is  im- 
possible to  spend  days  in  solving  particular  crimes  and  at  the  same  time 
supervise  the  operations  of  80  men  who  are  working  on  hundreds  of  cases. 

Recommendations 

One  approaches  the  subject  of  recommendations  for  the  detective 
bureau  almost  with  despair.  The  whole  department  needs  overhauling; 
the  methods  of  work  require  a  complete  shaking  up;  and  much  of  the 
present  personnel  should  be  gotten  rid  of.  However,  the  following  recom- 
mendations are  pertinent  to  our  inquiry: 

1.  The  director  of  police  should  be  given  the  right  to  recruit  detec- 
tives directly  from  civil  life  through  original  appointments.  There  is  no 
good  reason  for  restricting  the  selection  of  detectives  so  that  none  but 
members  of  the  uniformed  force  are  eligible.  The  uniformed  patrol 
force  may  or  may  not  have  in  sufficient  number  the  sort  of  material  that 
is  demanded  in  detective  work.  The  chances  are  that  the  patrol  force 
does  not  have  the  best  material  available  in  the  community.  It  is  not 
here  proposed  that  all  members  of  the  detective  service  be  taken  directly 
from  civil  life.  When  uniformed  patrolmen  are  found  to  have  the  quali- 
fications for  detective  work,  they  will  be  preferred  because  of  their  experi- 
ence. But  the  department  should  no.t  be  compelled  to  limit  its  choice 
of  detectives  as  at  present. 

Detective  work  requires  some  men  of  scientific  training — men  having 
the  educational  foundation  that  will  permit  them  to  develop  scientific 
methods  of  operation.  There  are  many  principles  of  criminology,  such  as 
the  examination  of  the  physical  evidence  of  crime,  which  can  only  be 
applied  and  developed  by  specially  trained  men.  These  men  cannot  be 
drawn  exclusively  from  the  uniformed  patrol  force  for  the  reason  that 
men  having  scientific  training  do  not  enter  the  patrol  service.  Aside 
from  those  with  qualifications  of  this  type  there  are  men  in  private  life 
specially  trained  in  getting  information  and  making  investigations,  who 
would  be  willing  to  enter  the  detective  service  at  the  rate  of  pay  now 
given  detectives,  provided  there  were  an  opportunity  for  making  a  credit- 
able career.  But  these  men  would  not  first  serve  an  apprenticeship  of 
walking  beats  as  patrol  watchmen. 

[09  1 


Detective  bureaus  are  the  weak  spots  in  all  police  departments  of  this 
country,  chiefly  for  the  reason  that  the  choice  of  detectives  is  limited  to 
men  who  are  recruited  and  trained  as  patrolmen.  In  this  connection 
August  Vollmer,  head  of  the  police  department  of  Berkeley,  California, 
asks  the  following  pertinent  questions:  "Where  is  there  a  business  con- 
cern that  compels  applicants  for  various  vacancies  in  the  organization  to 
submit  to  the  same  physical  and  mental  examination;  where  the  janitor, 
clerk,  salesman,  engineer,  department  heads,  superintendents,  and  man- 
agers are  all  compelled  to  answer  the  same  questions,  measure  up  to  the 
same  physical  standards  as  to  health,  height,  weight,  age,  and  sex,  and  all 
commencing  their  employment  at  the  same  occupational  level  and  at  the 
same  pay?  Where  is  there  a  business  concern  that  limits  the  selection  of 
men  for  technical  positions  to  employees  holding  inferior  positions  in  the 
same  estabhshment?  "  It  is  obvious  that  police  departments  are  alone 
in  their  indefensible  practices  in  such  matters.  If  any  real  progress  is  to 
be  made  in  detective  bureau  efficiency,  it  must  come  after  the  removal  of 
senseless  bars  to  getting  men  who  have  the  intelligence  and  training 
needed  to  perform  the  special  tasks  that  daily  confront  detectives. 

2.  Under  any  circumstances,  some  of  the  personnel  of  the  detective 
bureau,  perhaps  a  majority  of  it,  would  be  recruited  to  the  detective  ser- 
vice from  other  branches  of  the  police  organization.  The  present  method 
of  such  recruiting,  however,  should  be  changed.  Instead  of  detailing 
patrolmen  to  become  full-fledged  detectives  at  once,  there  should  first  be 
an  apprenticeship  assignment.  Members  of  other  divisions  of  the  service 
who  show  signs  of  special  fitness  for  detective  work — an  ability  to  re- 
member faces,  a  knowledge  of  local  thieves  and  their  habits,  an  ability  to 
get  accurate  information  and  to  make  coherent  reports — should  be  de- 
tailed to  the  detective  bureau  to  serve  as  junior  detectives.  To  require  a 
period  of  apprenticeship  does  not  constitute  a  discrimination  against 
members  of  the  force  as  compared  with  civilians  who  might  be  appointed 
to  full  detective  rank.  The  civilians  will  also  have  had  their  period  of  try- 
out  in  some  civil  pursuit.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  member  of  the  police 
force  has  every  advantage  in  securing  the  detective  posts  which  do  not 
necessarily  demand  scientific  training.  The  department  affords  the 
patrolman  his  qualifying  experience,  while  the  outsider  has  not  such  op- 
portunity to  develop  it. 

Members  detailed  to  the  detective  bureau  from  other  branches  of  the 
department  should  be  classed  as  junior  detectives  for  a  period  of  pos- 
sibly two  years,  during  which  time  they  should  be  tested  and  observed 
as  candidates  for  appointment  as  senior  detectives.  During  this  period 
of  apprenticeship  members  should  receive  the  salary  attaching  to  the 

[70] 


rank  from  which  they  are  detailed.  If  their  detective  work  proves  satis- 
factory, appointment  to  full  detective  rank  may  be  made  permanent.  If, 
however,  junior  detectives  do  not  show  themselves  to  be  adapted  to 
detective  work,  they  should  be  remanded  to  duty  in  uniform.  This  would 
not  be  considered  such  a  hardship  as  at  present,  for  the  reason  that  there 
would  be  no  loss  in  pay  upon  being  remanded. 

3.  After  quaUfying  in  the  period  of  apprenticeship  or  probation,  as 
it  might  be  called,  appointment  to  full  rank  of  detective  should  follow. 
Two  years  will  not  always  suffice  to  prove  a  detective's  abihty,  hence 
provision  should  also  be  made  for  remanding  senior  detectives  to  uni- 
formed duty  whenever  they  do  not  measure  up  to  the  bureau's  demands. 
There  are  no  soft  places  in  detective  service  where  the  lazy  or  inefficient 
man  may  be  shelved.  "  Deadwood"  can  perhaps  be  used  in  posts  which 
involve  routine  duties  and  httle  initiative,  but  "deadwood"  is  a  total 
loss  in  the  detective  bureau.  A  detective  should  either  show  continuous 
advancement  thi'ough  energetic  work  and  the  accumulation  of  experi- 
ence or  he  should  be  put  out  of  the  detective  service  altogether. 

Accordingly,  it  is  proposed  that,  as  continuance  in  the  detective  ser- 
vice presupposes  fitness,  automatic  increases  in  salary  should  be  given. 
A  salary  schedule  should  be  devised  which  would  allow  some  five  or  six 
increases,  ranging  from  the  lowest,  approximately  the  salary  paid  to  a 
uniformed  sergeant,  to  a  rate  equaling  that  received  by  a  uniformed 
captain  of  police.  The  schedule  should  be  so  arranged  that  the  last  in- 
crease should  come  about  three  years  before  the  pension  service  retire- 
ment. 

The  advantages  of  granting  salary  increases  to  detectives  without 
regard  to  changes  in  rank  are  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  it  would  make 
the  detective  service  a  career  of  itself  and  would  permit  advancement 
entirely  on  the  basis  of  meritorious  work.  In  the  second  place,  it  would 
do  away  with  the  present  situation,  wherein  detectives,  to  secure  ad- 
vances in  rank,  must  compete  in  examinations  designed  to  cover  types  of 
work  other  than  those  which  they  have  been  doing.  It  would  also  do 
away  with  the  absurd  practice  of  sending  back  to  duty  in  the  uniformed 
force  a  detective  who  receives  promotion  to  the  rank  of  sergeant,  with  its 
corresponding  decrease  in  pay, 

4.  Promotion  to  posts  of  command  in  the  detective  bureau  should  be 
made  from  among  members  of  the  bureau,  and  not,  as  at  present,  from 
the  uniformed  force.  The  determining  consideration  to  date  has  been  the 
rank — captain  and  inspector — desired  for  commanding  officers  of  the 
detective  bm-eau.  The  quahfication  of  experience  has  been  entirely  over- 
looked.   What  is  wanted  is  not  rank,  but  brains  and  abihty. 

171] 


5.  With  well-trained  men  in  the  detective  bureau,  under  competent 
leadership,  constant  attention  would  have  to  be  given  to  the  administra- 
tive problem.  After  all,  running  a  detective  bureau  is  like  running  any 
complicated  business:  it  requires  an  intimacy  with  detail  and  continual 
follow-up,  so  that  every  individual  feels  the  stimulus  of  the  leadership. 
In  this  respect  the  Cleveland  detective  bureau  is  conspicuously  lacking 
at  the  present  time.  What  is  needed  is  a  man  in  charge  who  will  live  con- 
stantly with  his  cases  and  whose  guiding  principle  will  be  that  no  case  is 
settled  until  it  is  solved. 

6.  Members  of  the  detective  bureau  should  do  only  detective  work. 
They  should  not  be  detailed  as  clerks,  telephone  operators,  or  to  guard 
the  person  of  the  mayor.  They  should  be  technical  men,  well  paid  for 
their  abilities,  and  not  job-holders  who  can  be  assigned  to  any  task. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SPECIAL  SERVICE  DIVISION 

THE  third  major  function  of  police  work,  crime  prevention,  is  poorly 
developed  in  the  Cleveland  department.  Of  course,  some  measure 
of  crime  prevention  work  is  aimed  at  by  the  uniformed  force  and 
detective  bureau  as  well,  but  we  are  here  considering  the  distinctly  con- 
structive efforts  to  prevent  crime — efforts  that  cannot  be  employed  by 
the  uniforaied  force,  the  members  of  which  must  necessarily  devote  most 
of  their  attention  to  patroling  streets  in  the  capacity  of  watchmen. 
Detectives  are  kept  busy  for  the  most  part  with  solving  crimes  that  have 
not  been  prevented,  although  they  do  some  preventive  work.  The  de- 
velopment of  a  special  unit  engaged  in  preventive  work  need  not  relieve 
the  members  of  either  the  uniformed  force  or  the  detective  bureau  of 
any  feeling  of  responsibility  for  taking  action  looking  toward  crime 
prevention.  The  members  of  a  special  service  division,  however,  should 
be  freed  from  the  duties  of  watchmen,  and  should  not  have  their  time 
fully  occupied  with  the  apprehension  of  criminals  and  solution  of  crimes 
already  committed.  Such  a  division  should  investigate  conditions  that 
are  known  to  lead  to  the  commission  of  crime  and  should  become  an 
expert  agency  in  handling  persons  who  show  themselves  disposed  to 
delinquency. 

Inasmuch  as  there  are  practically  no  special  facilities  in  the  Cleve- 
land department  for  undertaking  constructive  action  in  preventive 
work,  our  survey  was  confined  to  the  need  for  such  a  service.  The  vice 
squad  or  bureau,  as  now  organized,  is  the  nearest  approach  to  a  special- 
ized crime  prevention  unit  in  the  department.  This  squad  is  organized 
as  an  independent  unit  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  chief  of  police. 
Two  lieutenants  of  police  are  assigned  by  the  chief  to  command  the 
bureau.  Members  of  the  squad  are  patrolmen  who  are  detailed  by  the 
chief  in  the  same  way  that  patrolmen  are  detailed  as  detectives.  No 
provision  is  made  for  recruiting  directly  from  civil  life.  Members  of  the 
squad  devote  considerable  time  to  the  investigation  of  complaints  re- 
ferred to  the  vice  bureau  by  the  chief.  Some  of  these  complaints  come 
from  citizens  and  others  originate  with  the  uniformed  force.    These 

[73] 


complaints  often  relate  to  suspicious  conditions  which  lead  the  com- 
plainants to  believe  that  certain  premises  are  being  used  for  prostitu- 
tion, gambling,  sale  of  liquor,  or  illegal  traffic  in  narcotics.  Sometimes 
complaints  are  made  against  individuals,  but  in  either  case  members  of 
the  vice  squad  must  get  new  and  additional  evidence  of  a  specific  viola- 
tion of  law  repeated  some  time  after  the  violation  referred  to  in  the  com- 
plaint. Thus,  the  vice  bureau  operatives  are  chiefly  engaged  in  the 
investigation  of  general  conditions.  In  their  effort  to  develop  specific 
charges  of  violation  against  individuals,  much  of  their  best  work  is  done 
by  way  of  anticipating  the  occurrence  of  new  violations.  The  very 
investigations  made  by  them  often  lead  to  an  abandonment  of  activity 
on  the  part  of  the  promoters  of  vice.  In  this  respect  the  work  of  the 
vice  squad  takes  on  more  of  the  aspect  of  crime  prevention  than  does 
the  work  of  other  divisions.  The  vice  bureau,  therefore,  may  serve  as  a 
nucleus  for  building  up  a  unit  devoted  to  investigations  of  conditions 
and  individuals  with  a  view  to  forestalling  criminal  acts. 

The  attitude  of  police  heads  toward  the  vice  bureau  at  present  seems 
to  be  one  of  suspicion.  The  chief  of  police  keeps  in  his  office  a  complete 
record  system,  which  provides  a  check  on  all  complaints  assigned  to 
members  of  the  vice  bureau  for  investigation.  Daily  reports  of  the 
vice  bureau's  operations  are  submitted  to  the  chief  and  the  director.  No 
other  division  of  the  police  service  submits  such  a  report  to  the  director. 
It  was  not  disclosed  what  use,  if  any,  the  director  makes  of  these  reports. 
It  is  necessary  to  maintain  a  close  check  on  the  operatives  who  are  sub- 
jected to  such  unusual  temptations  as  are  met  with  in  combating  prosti- 
tution, gambling,  and  traffic  in  liquor  and  drugs.  But  the  chief  should 
not  be  burdened  with  the  details  of  checking  30  men  in  the  vice  bureau. 
Rather,  he  should  depend  on  an  officer  of  higher  rank  than  now  detailed 
to  the  vice  bureau  to  do  the  checking  and  hold  him  responsible  for 
general  results  as  in  other  divisions  of  the  service. 

While  complaints  which  are  referred  to  the  vice  bureau  cannot  be 
thrown  out  without  rendering  a  report  of  action  taken  thereon,  it  is 
cases  that  are  supervised  rather  than  the  methods  employed  by  operatives 
in  working  on  the  cases.  An  examination  of  the  records  maintained  in 
the  vice  bureau  discloses  the  fact  that  supervising  officers  do  not  keep 
adequate  check  on  the  cumulative  operations  of  the  men  under  their 
command.  It  would  seem  that  too  much  rehance  is  placed  on  the  auto- 
matic check  which  the  mere  submission  of  supplementary  reports  is 
supposed  to  afford.  True,  operatives  are  required  to  write  up  a  sum- 
mary of  each  day's  work  in  books  kept  in  the  bureau  for  that  purpose, 
and  this  enables  the  supervising  officers  to  tell  what  was  done  by  the 

[74] 


men  on  the  day's  cases,  provided  the  men  are  always  faithful  in  record- 
ing all  cases.  It  does  not,  however,  afford  a  means  of  keeping  tab  on 
complaints  which  are  a  few  days  or  a  week  old.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
supervision  in  the  vice  bureau,  as  in  the  detective  bureau,  is  conducted 
on  the  memory  basis,  which  is  bound  to  be  wholly  inadequate  in  a  large 
department.  It  is  simply  impossible  for  two  commanding  officers  to 
remember  the  multitude  of  assignments  given  to  some  30  men  extending 
over  a  period  of  weeks  and  months.  It  would  be  a  laborious  task  to 
find  out,  from  the  record  now  kept,  how  many  cases  or  complaints  A  or  B 
is  working  on  at  any  given  time,  or  to  learn  from  their  reports  what 
progress  has  been  made  on  the  cases  which  they  have  under  investiga- 
tion. As  a  result,  old  cases  become  dead  cases,  and  are  readily  lost  to 
the  view  of  supervising  officers  in  the  shuffle  of  each  day's  new  business. 

Other  Crime  Prevention  Units  Needed 
As  has  been  pointed  out,  the  vice  bureau  should  comprise  but  one 
section  of  the  special  service  division,  although  it  could  well  remain  a 
more  or  less  independent  section.  There  is  need  for  the  immediate 
establishment  of  a  woman's  bureau,  composed  of  not  less  than  10  police 
women.  Cleveland  is  the  only  city  of  over  a  half  million  population 
that  does  not  employ  police  women.  The  experience  of  such  cities  as 
London,  New  York,  Detroit,  St.  Louis,  Los  Angeles,  and  Indianapolis 
has  proved  conclusively  that  women  can  perform  police  work  of  the 
highest  order,  often  in  a  way  that  cannot  be  equaled  by  men.  The 
Police  Woman's  Section  should  perform  most  of  the  duties  now  carried 
on  by  the  Cleveland  Woman's  Protective  Association,  an  organization 
privately  financed  and  managed.  Police  women  can  do  most  effective 
crime  prevention  work  in  the  inspection  of  dance  halls,  parks,  moving- 
picture  theaters,  and  other  places  of  amusement.  They  can  do  good 
work  in  pre-delinquency  cases  with  incorrigible  girls  and  boys.  They 
can  also  take  under  investigation  the  cases  of  adults  who  may  possibly 
contribute  to  the  delinquency  of  minors.  The  investigation  of  com- 
plaints of  missing  persons,  which  many  times  disclose  runaway  cases, 
can  often  be  best  handled  by  women.  Women  selected  for  this  section 
of  the  crime  prevention  division  should  possess  a  strong  sense  of  social 
service,  and  should  have  the  training  and  outlook  of  the  type  of  social 
worker  employed  by  such  private  agencies  as  charity  organizations,  the 
Travelers'  Aid  Society,  and  the  Woman's  Protective  Association. 

At  the  present  time  dance  halls  are  being  supervised  by  a  special 
unit  known  as  the  Dance  Hall  Inspection  Bureau.  This  bureau  is 
attached  to  the  office  of  the  director  of  public  safety.     The  dance  hall 

[75] 


inspectors,  numbering  about  40  deputies  or  special  police,  are  not  mem- 
bers of  the  police  department.  Thej'  are  paid  fees  by  the  proprietors 
of  the  dance  halls  which  they  inspect.  A  clerk-patrolman  detailed  to 
the  director's  office  assigns  the  inspectors  and  keeps  a  record  of  dance 
hall  permits.  The  dance  hall  inspection  division  should  be  abolished 
and  the  work  taken  over  completely  by  the  police  department,  for  the 
inspection  of  public  dance  halls  is  a  duty  which  cannot  properly  be 
delegated  to  unofficial  observers  whose  salaries  are  paid  by  the  people 
they  inspect.  Much  of  this  work  should  naturally  fall  to  the  division 
of  women  police. 

A  unit  of  welfare  officers  is  another  much-needed  section  of  the 
special  service  division.  This  unit  may  be  composed  of  both  men  and 
women.  It  should  be  the  duty  of  this  division  to  investigate  the  bad 
home  conditions  that  make  for  delinquency  and  cases  of  destitution 
coming  to  the  attention  of  the  police.  Another  fruitful  field  of  crime 
prevention  service  that  can  be  performed  by  a  welfare  unit  is  that  of 
giving  counsel  and  aid  to  persons  who  are  turned  out  of  hospitals  and 
other  institutions,  and  who  are  often  unwelcome  in  their  former  homes. 
Experience  in  other  cities  shows  that  such  persons  easily  drift  into  a 
life  of  crime.  The  same  field  of  valuable  service  is  found  in  dealing 
with  criminals  who  are  released  from  institutions  and  prisons  and  thrown 
on  the  community,  often  without  opportunity  for  making  a  living  in  a 
fair  and  honest  way.  A  welfare  unit  should  keep  in  touch  with  oppor- 
tunities of  employment  for  these  persons.  By  helpful  cooperation  a 
sort  of  protective  supervision  may  be  established  looking  toward  the 
redemption  of  many  who  would  otherwise  gravitate  to  vice  and  crime. 
It  is  a  fact  that  parents  of  wayward  children,  and  many  persons  who 
are  on  the  verge  of  desperate  helplessness,  will  frequently  turn  for  aid 
to  a  welfare  division  of  the  pofice  service  when  they  would  not  approach 
the  police  through  the  ordinary  channels  which  carry  with  them  the  idea 
of  repression  and  even  hostility  toward  those  in  distress. 

An  excellent  precedent  of  such  a  unit  of  welfare  officers  exists  in  the 
system  which  Commissioner  Woods  established  in  New  York  during 
his  term  of  office.  Carefully  chosen  officers  were  assigned  to  the  busier 
precincts  of  the  city  to  ferret  out  conditions  which  seemed  to  be  leading 
people  astra3\  This  experiment  did  not  have  time  to  prove  itself  before 
Commissioner  Woods  left  office,  but  it  illustrates  the  new  technique 
in  police  work  for  diminishing  crime. 

The  fourth  section  of  crime  prevention  service  needed  is  a  unit  of 
juvenile  officers.  Complaints  of  juvenile  delinquency  should  be  re- 
ferred to  specially  selected  officers,  who  may  be  chosen  because  of  their 

[76] 


peculiar  qualifications  as  experts  in  handling  children's  cases.  This 
Juvenile  Bureau  or  Section  should  cooperate  actively  with  the  Juvenile 
Court  and  make  many  of  the  investigations  for  the  court  which  are  now 
made  by  court  probation  officers.  It  is  a  poHce  function,  and  the 
police  department  should  not  be  relieved  of  responsibility  for  performing 
it.  Juvenile  officers  should  be  distributed  through  the  city  by  assign- 
ments to  precincts,  although  general  supervision  of  their  work  should  be 
carried  on  by  the  special  service  division  at  headquarters.  The  work 
of  juvenile  ofiicers  attached  to  precincts  in  Chicago  affords  an  excellent 
example  of  the  value  of  such  a  division.  The  long-established  juvenile 
bureaus  in  the  Detroit  and  Los  Angeles  pohce  departments  likewise 
have  proved  the  value  of  employing  a  special  unit  engaged  in  crime 
prevention  among  children. 

All  of  the  special  activities  mentioned  above  should  be  consolidated 
in  a  single  division  devoted  to  the  more  constructive  features  of  crime 
prevention.  One  of  the  highest  ranking  officers  in  the  service  should  be 
selected  by  the  director  of  police  to  head  this  important  division.  His 
duty  would  be  to  survey  general  conditions  in  the  city  which  indicate 
opportunity  or  need  for  corrective  crime  prevention  measures.  He 
should  then  see  that  the  various  sections  of  his  division  are  well  co- 
ordinated. Although  the  several  fields  of  work  are  specialized,  there 
is  much  opportunity  for  active  cooperation.  Thus,  members  of  the 
vice  bureau,  in  the  course  of  their  investigation  of  complaints  of  gamb- 
ling and  sex  delinquencies,  run  across  hangers-on  and  idlers  against 
whom  they  may  not  proceed  with  formal  charges,  but  who,  neverthe- 
less, may  properly  be  investigated.  Information  regarding  these 
border-line  cases  of  delinquency  should  be  handled  by  the  Police  Wo- 
man's Section,  Welfare  Section,  or  Juvenile  Section,  as  the  case  may 
warrant.  Similarly,  the  investigations  conducted  by  the  Police  Wo- 
man's Division  or  Welfare  officers  will  many  times  disclose  conditions 
that  should  be  investigated  by  the  vice  bureau.  It  is  important  that 
the  common  factors  of  a  crime  prevention  program  be  recognized  and 
that  the  agencies  carrying  out  such  a  program  be  closely  knit  together. 
There  should  be  a  single  head  directing  the  development  of  a  crime  pre- 
vention program  in  its  several  aspects. 

Members  of  the  special  service  division  who  are  not  engaged  on 
specific  assignments  should  keep  in  constant  touch  with  the  breeding 
places  of  crime  throughout  the  city.  Insistent  police  surveillance  of 
pool-rooms,  cigar-stores  having  back  rooms,  hotels  and  lodging-houses, 
and  the  other  places  where  there  is  customary  idling  will  do  much  to 
prevent  the  commission  of  petty  crimes  on  the  spot  and  the  hatching  of 

[77] 


crimes  to  be  committed  elsewhere.  The  young  criminal  is  a  gregarious 
being,  and  idling  with  bad  associates  is  the  primary  requirement  for 
sending  him  or  her  on  the  road  to  some  criminal  act. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  the  police  to  wield  a  club  or  even  to  proceed 
with  a  warrant  in  many  cases.  They  can,  wholly  within  their  legal 
rights,  so  interfere  with  idling  that  it  may  be  largely  broken  up  in  public 
places.  By  sending  a  boy  home  or  questioning  an  idler  or  by  making 
many  inquiries  of  the  origin  and  intentions  of  idlers,  the  police  can  make 
idling  uncomfortable  instead  of  interesting  and  at  times  profitable.  It 
requires  groups  of  idlers  to  keep  alive  the  contacts  of  the  underworld, 
which  show  the  way  to  traffic  in  drugs,  liquor,  and  prostitution.  Crimes 
ordinarily  produced  by  these  associations  cannot  flourish  when  the 
police  are  ever  questioning  and  scrutinizing. 

The  importance  of  having  a  separate  division  recognized  as  the  re- 
sponsible agency  in  the  department  for  the  promotion  of  facilities  for 
constructive  efforts  of  crime  prevention  cannot  be  overestimated.  When 
such  a  division  is  established,  there  will  be  a  logical  place  for  inaugurating 
new  practices  and  experiments  in  social  service  and  pre-delinquency 
activities,  thus  avoiding  haphazard  creation  of  a  number  of  small  new 
units  which  are  likely  to  be  poorly  organized  and  inadequately  super- 
vised. Finally,  the  special  service  division  should  become  the  police 
department's  liaison  division  between  schools,  hospitals,  and  private 
charitable  and  correctional  institutions.  Because  of  the  character  of 
its  work,  such  a  division  could  readily  secure  a  degree  of  cooperation 
with  other  agencies  of  social  service  that  is  not  now  usually  had  by  any 
other  branch  of  the  police  department. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  this  whole  idea  is  new  in  police  work  in 
America,  but  its  basic  idea  gives  shape  to  the  police  work  of  the  future. 
There  is  as  much  room  for  crime  prevention  in  our  communities  as  for 
fire  prevention  or  the  prevention  of  disease,  and  in  this  endeavor  to 
limit  the  opportunities  of  crime  and  keep  it  from  claiming  its  victims  the 
police  department  must  take  the  leading  part. 


[78; 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  SECRETARIAL  DIVISION 

THE  work  properly  belonging  to  the  office  of  a  secretary  of  the 
police  department  is  now  scattered  among  several  offices  and 
divisions,  with  almost  no  coordination.  There  is  a  waste  in  men 
employed  in  the  various  tasks  relating  to  record  keeping,  filing,  and 
correspondence.  Furthermore,  the  work  that  is  being  done  is  inadequate. 
Personnel  service  records,  payrolls,  equipment,  repair,  and  supply 
records  are  prepared  and  kept  in  the  office  of  the  director  of  public 
safety,  and  certain  classes  of  permits,  such  as  for  dances  and  parades, 
are  issued  from  that  office.  A  detective  and  a  patrolman  are  detailed 
there  to  care  for  a  portion  of  the  poUce  work.  Other  clerks  devote  part 
of  their  time  to  clerical  work  which  pertains  to  the  administration  of  the 
fire  department  as  well  as  police.  All  the  correspondence  and  steno- 
graphic work  of  the  police  department  is  done  in  the  office  of  the  chief 
of  police.  One  detective,  two  sergeants,  and  three  patrolmen  are  de- 
tailed to  do  this  work.  Personnel  records  dupUcating  those  kept  in  the 
director's  office  are  also  filed  in  the  chief's  office. 

The  bureau  of  records  cares  for  the  preparation  and  fihng  of  pawn- 
shop and  lost  property  records,  and  all  records  relating  to  the  license, 
ownership,  and  identification  of  automobiles.  In  this  bureau  also  are 
filed  all  criminal  complaints  and  copies  of  reports  made  by  the  various 
divisions  of  the  department.  Six  patrolmen  are  detailed  to  serve  as 
clerks  in  this  bureau.  There  is  no  officer  in  command,  the  patrolmen 
severally  assuming  responsibility  for  the  management  of  the  bureau 
during  the  eight-hour  period  when  they  are  on  duty.  The  record  bureau 
is  cramped  in  a  small  room  on  the  first  floor  of  the  police  headquarters 
building.  It  is  poorly  ventilated  and  lighted  by  a  single  window  open- 
ing on  a  court.  Records  are  not  protected  from  fire.  The  record  bureau 
facilities  of  the  poHce  departments  in  Detroit,  where  the  whole  top  floor 
of  the  headquarters  building  is  given  over  to  the  record  bureau,  and  in 
St.  Louis,  where  an  enormous  well-hghted  room  is  used  for  the  record 
bureau,  are  in  striking  contrast  to  Cleveland's  meager  facilities. 

A  clear  duphcation  of  record  keeping  is  found  in  an  office  known  as 

[791 


the  bureau  of  information,  which  has  no  organic  relation  to  any  clerical 
division  and  no  particular  place  in  the  scheme  of  organization.  Three 
sergeants  and  three  patrolmen  are  detailed  to  this  office.  Three  addi- 
tional men  are  attached  to  a  telephone  desk  on  another  floor.  These 
desk  officers  also  belong  to  the  bureau  of  information.  A  sergeant  of 
police,  known  as  the  court  sergeant,  has  an  office  adjoining  the  munici- 
pal court.  This  officer  keeps  a  record  of  cases  presented  in  court  and 
also  prepares  statistics  of  daily  crime  complaints. 

All  of  the  offices  mentioned  above  should  be  combined  in  a  single 
division  under  the  management  of  a  secretary  of  the  department. 
Civilian  clerks  and  stenographers — most  of  them  girls — should  be 
employed  to  do  the  work  in  the  place  of  policemen.  Clerks  trained  and 
experienced  in  clerical  duties  can  do  the  work  better  and  at  far  less  cost 
than  at  present.  It  is  absurd  to  employ  detectives  and  sergeants  of 
police  in  activities  of  this  kind. 

The  secretarial  office  should  be  organized  in  several  sections,  as,  for 
example,  the  correspondence  section,  the  filing  section,  the  information 
desk,  and  the  division  of  statistics.  Combined  in  one  bureau,  all  this 
work  which  is  now  scattered  throughout  the  department  could  be  co- 
ordinated in  a  way  that  would  increase  its  effectiveness  and  greatly 
reduce  its  cost. 


80 


